God Hates Gossips!

Scripture links it with evil, depravity, murder, deceit, God-hatred, heartlessness, and ruthlessness (Romans 1:29-31) and with disorder, arrogance, slander, and anger (2 Corinthians 12:20). The Word of God states it shatters friendships and fuels quarrels (Proverbs ; 26:20). Proverbs 6:16-19 brings the shocking statement that God hates those who practice it. 

What is it? 

Gossip. 

The lure of gossip is so prevalent that Proverbs gives the peril a rare double dose. In both 18:8 and 26:22 the Bible declares "The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man's inmost parts." 

If you want people to really listen, whisper. People enjoy listening to gossip. Why? It makes them feel like they are "one-up" on others. A poor self-image may be a causal agent to an appetite for gossip. If I can keep the focus on others, I don't have to look at myself. Non-biblical, of course; but rather comfortable. The destructiveness of gossip does not depend on the perpetrator's motives. 

I've heard gossip prefaced by the attempted disclaimer. "I don't want to gossip, but we need to pray about" Intentional or not, trying to sanctify gossip is like trying to legitimize abortion you can flap your jaws endlessly and arrive nowhere. 

I know of only one way to stop gossips from dumping on me. Too often I whimp out and don't seize the opportunity. It is a risky technique, but I want to increase my use of it as I realize afresh how horrific the sin of gossip is in the sight of my Father. 

The technique is simple. When someone starts dumping on you about someone else, say something like, "You may be right, but I don't have all the facts. Besides, you need to talk to him/her about it. I trust you want to do the right thing, and scripture tells us to go right to the person. Just to make sure, I'll tell him/her today that you need to talk to him about this." 

I said it wasn't easy. 

If you use the technique, you've got to follow through. 

Used often, it should lessen the appearance of the gossips at your ear. That's good protection, because a gossip is someone who snares the unsuspecting in a mouth trap! An amazing thing about gossips is that they give you all the details without knowing any of the facts.

What about when you are the object of gossip? 

Draw some comfort from the words of Proverbs 26:2, "Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest." I believe gossip is a curse, and I am convinced this proverb means that God intervenes when some talebearer blabs gossip to others. Either their sin finds them out directly, or perhaps God almost erases the garbage in the recipient's mind. Recognize that those who may spread undeserved garbage about you are simply trying to elevate themselves out of their self-imposed and self-defined filth. Don't resort to "counter-gossip." 

Now, if I've said something that offends you, let me know. Don't let others know until you let me know! God helping us, I'll try to do the same. I don't want my life categorized with the horrible types described in the first paragraph and, I trust, neither do you. 

Gossip vs Flattery

“Gossip involves saying behind a person’s back what you would never say to his or her face. Flattery means saying to a person’s face what you would never say behind his or her back.” 

—R. Kent Hughes, Disciplines of a Godly Man, p. 139.

It Tastes Good; But It Is a Sin Hated by God

Chris Brauns:

There for a while I was on a kick lately of eating chocolate toffee almond nuggets: creamy and sweet.

Unfortunately, when I ate those choice chocolates, I hadn’t seen the last of them. After they have tasted great, they show up just above my belt. As good as they are, they are not worth the calories. When I eat a chocolate, I give it a free pass to head for my stomach and out into my body.

That says, Proverbs is how gossip is.

“The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man’s inmost parts (Proverbs 18:8).”

So, important is this Proverb, that it is repeated verbatim later in Proverbs 26:22.

Bits of gossip are like chocolate nuggets: smooth and creamy, they melt in your mouth: it tastes good to be in the loop; it is sweet to hear someone else notice the same weaknesses in another that have frustrated you; it feels spiritual to ask for prayer – - gossip and grumbling and complaining are a tempting treat.

But, remember this. As sweet as those gossip nuggets may taste, snacking on them is not the end. Words of gossip accumulate on our spiritual waistlines. They shape the inmost part of our being. Gossip muddies our windshields so that everything looks dirty.

The next time you are tempted to take the tinfoil off a piece of gossip and pop it in your mouth. Think again. Words of gossip go down to our innermost being.

Stuff I've Seen in 30 Years of Ministry

Three decades ago I was in Bible school. At the same time I began working with a large youth ministry. Thus for thirty years (what is such a young guy doing in such an old body?) I have been vocationally involved in ministry. God has opened doors for school assembly programs, prison and jail work, speaking to scores of civic agencies and service clubs, hundreds of churches, and a wide variety of other speaking venues.


As I reflect back over the marvelous things God has done, I wonder if I’ve really learned anything in those 10,950+ days. The following are observations made and/or confirmed. Since there is nothing new under the sun, I’m certain these things have been recorded before, but I offer them simply as “lessons learned” in the hope they may serve as encouragement, or provide an “uh-huh” moment:


*People are much, much more important than programs


*“New” rarely is synonymous with “better”


*Worship is a matter of the heart, not posture or posturing


*When someone says, “I don’t want to gossip; I just want you to pray about something,” insert something in your ears


*Most committees take minutes and waste hours


*When youth workers say the teens are bored with something, it usually means the youth workers are bored, not the kids


*If we don’t encourage people to think, we are not discipling, we’re merely creating more religious groupies


*Musical styles are not worth discussing, much less fighting over (lyrics may be)


*It is possible to have a Christian meeting without food (or an invitation)


*Non-Christians expect more of Christians than Christians do


*A walk talks, and a talk talks, but a walk talks louder than a talk talks


*Ministry happens


*It is easy to spend so much time “earning the right to be heard” that you never say anything


*Acts 1:15 records that Peter preached to “a gathering of about one hundred and twenty,” Acts 19:7 says Paul laid his hands on “about twelve men,” thus evidencing the Holy Spirit’s lack of concern with numbers - Whereas most evangelicals would say "a gathering of 123" and "eleven men"


*Most evangelicals will sign petitions to get the Ten Commandments back in school though most of them could not list the Ten


*Neither teens nor adults can spiritually live on periodic “big” events


*Only God can convince someone that their perceived “conviction” is, in fact, a personal preference


*The often-voiced arguments against rock music are nothing but the parroting of closet racism


*If you verbalize a strong view of anything you will be labeled narrow-minded and opinionated


*If it hurts you to confront, you are probably okay; if you eagerly anticipate it, forget it


*God’s Word is always relative


*Youth speakers are less than a dime a dozen; speaker that will hang out with the kids between pulpit times are a rarer breed


*Other than people, time is the only irreplaceable commodity


*Never preach above your experience


*Don’t let what you don’t know mess up what you do know


*It’s dangerous to use personal pronouns while referring to the ministry you serve


*A real danger for the disciple of Christ is making the Bible, witnessing, worship, or ministry an idol


*Aggressive listening is demanded from the speaker as well as from the audience


*Never tell counselee that they are saved. That is the ministry of the Holy Spirit


*Never tell a teen that he or she is “the church of the future.” They are the church of today


*It is high time for the Body of Christ to quit messing with the scaffolding and spend more time strengthening the foundation.


Well, probably nothing drastic in the above, but they are some observations make not in a textbook but in the reality of life. Very often people ask me what my favorite verse is, and my primary response is Deuteronomy 29:29. Look it up, as it sums up rather handily my view on life.