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      • 40. One of the Greatest Need America
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      • 52. Thanksgiving is not a Holiday
      • 53. What a Christmas Present!
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      • 54. What Do You Mean by that?
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      • 67. Tribute to My Mother
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      • 79. The Redemption of Tookie Willaims
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      • 85. A Tribute to My (Spiritual) Father
      • 86. Your Relationship to the Word of God
      • 87. What an Opportunity!
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      • 90. The Case for Systematic Exposition
      • 91. Don't Miss the Message
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      • 101. A Modest Political Propospal
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      • 105. Continue
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      • 107. Why Good Ftiday?
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      • 110. The 80-20 Rule
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      • 113. Sweet Reasonableness
      • 114. The Other Benefit of Christmas
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      • 115. What Determines who Obtains Eternal Life?
      • 116. The Healing Touch
      • 117. The Function of Dysfunction
      • 118. When Your World Falls Apart
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      • 120. To Complain or not to Complain
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    • 2010 Articles 127-138 >
      • 127. Don't Ask; Don't Tell
      • 128. A Forest Dark
      • 129. The Rule of Law
      • 130. The Hits and Miss of Grace
      • 131. People Need the Lord
      • 132. Examples Worthy of Notes
      • 133. A Hassle Reduction Strategy
      • 134. Gossip
      • 135. My Favorite Poem
      • 136. Let's Put the Cross in its Place
      • 137. "Don't Spare Me"
      • 138 The Unseen Message of Christmas
    • 2011 Articles 139-147 >
      • 139. What Parents Should Teach their Children
      • 140. How to Avoid Having to Serve
      • 141. What Happen to Mike?
      • 142. An Atheist Recommends God
      • 143. Surprise
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      • 146. Get in the Way
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      • 148. Truth or Consequences
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      • 150. Take a Break
      • 151. The Worth of an Individual
      • 152. A Tribute to Nana
      • 153. Jesus Crossed the Line
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      • 161. How to Finish Well
      • 162. Rewards
      • 163. Spiritual Binging
      • 164. There is no way out of this one
      • 165. Half Empty or Half Full
      • 166. Nones
      • 167. Greet One Another with a Holy Kiss
      • 168. God's Answer to Atheism
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      • 170. The Problem of Fellowship with God
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      • 172. For Mercy's Sake
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      • 173. Lies
      • 174. Endure to the End
      • 175. Teaching Children How Money Grows
      • 176. The Principle of Delay
      • 177. By Their Fruit
      • 178. Sermons that Changed My Life
      • 179. If Paul Harvey were the Devil
      • 180. The Principle of Practice
    • 2015 Articles 181- >
      • 181. In Wrath Remember Mercy
      • 182. Choosing the Right Shepherd
      • 183. The Lord's Requirements
      • 184. Your Ear Lobe. Thumb, and Big Toe
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Gossip

We love to gossip. Proverbs 18:8 says, “The words of a talebearer are like tasty trifles, and they go down into the inmost body.” This issue is so important that Solomon emphasizes it by saying it twice. This proverb is repeated in Proverbs 26:22. People swallow gossip as if it was a delicious dessert. One commentator says gossip is “eagerly devoured by the listeners. It is almost as if the listeners say, ‘Yum, yum. I like that. Tell me more!’” (MacDonald). The news media discovered a long time ago that scandal sells. As someone in the news business said, “There is money in muck.”

There are several different ways to practice the fine art of gossip. Among friends, we use the blunt technique, saying, “Let me tell you what I just heard.” The sensitive are more subtle. They might use the balanced approach, introducing the gossip with, “On the one hand, Sister Sally is such a sweet person, but on the other hand, she can really be nasty at times.” Those who think of themselves as spiritual utilize the pseudo-spiritual method, beginning with, “I need to share this with you so that we can pray about it.”

Needless to say, gossip hurts others, but it also affects the one who gossips! Notice that Solomon says, “The words of a talebearer are like tasty trifles, and they go down into the inmost body” (Prov. 18:8, italics added). Gossip is like a digested dessert, it affects the inner most parts, the hearts. Once lodged in the mind and heart, gossip affects our attitude and our actions toward people and groups.

If you wish to deal with the gossip habit, you must remember that it is out of the abundance of the heart that we speak (Lk. 6:45). What lurks in the dark recesses of our heart that makes us gossip? For some, it is that it makes them feel good about themselves. They feel they are “good judges of character,” or they feel they are “better than” the subject of the gossip, or they feel “in the know” when they relay the information. For some, it is the way they feel about the one who is the object of the gossip. Down deep they do not like that person or the organization that person represents.

From a biblical point of view, we gossip because of a lack of love. Solomon says, “Love covers all sins” (Prov. 10:12). Paul says love does not rejoice in iniquity (1 Cor. 13:6). Simply put, we do not broadcast the sins of people we love. In fact, when we love somebody, we are slow to even believe the gossip in the first place. When we hear gossip about someone we care about, we tend to automatically become their defense attorney, instead of those prosecutor, jury, and judge. So the solution to gossip is not some superficial restraint on speech. It is a restructuring of the attitudes of the heart. The more we becomes a loving person, the less likely we are to advertise all we hear about others.

Solomon also says, “A talebearer reveals secrets, but he who is of a faithful spirit conceals a matter” (Prov. 11:13). Again Solomon speaks about the fact that talebearers spill secrets, only in this proverb he adds that some conceal the matter, which indicates that they know something they do not reveal. What is the difference between those who tattle and those who don’t? Those who don’t tell tales have a faithful spirit. The difference is their faithful, loving spirit.

                                              © G. Michael Cocoris, 8/302010
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