How Gossip Is Destroying Your Christian Life

 

The sin of Gossip is a pervasive sin often neglected by Christians. Too many Christians commit this sin daily, directly or indirectly, and yet, they don't see it to matter that much. 

Gossip hurts neighbors, divides friends, and damages reputations and relationships. The Bible warns against associating with a gossip. The book of Proverbs chapter 20:19 says, "Meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips." Gossip bears bad news behind the victim's back. It can be defined as bearing bad news behind someone's back out of an evil heart.  

There are many damages associated with gossip. Gossip brings about division; talking about other people behind their backs never promotes unity; it brings quarreling and eventually separation. Gossip can destroy people's reputations; it takes only one rumor to harm a brother or a sister, and it's difficult to recover once the rumor is out. Gossip can destroy trust. 

You may be trying to hurt others, but people lose your trust when you cannot keep simple information. They see you as someone who cannot be trusted and start withholding confidential information from you.

Gossip is addictive. It's so addictive that many people don't even know when they begin to gossip. They usually don't 
start as gossip, they start as simple conversations, then they gossip one time, find a strange pleasure in it, and then do it again and again and again, and then it becomes a demonic stronghold in their lives.

A gossip risks God's judgment. Mathew chapter 12 vs 36 and 37 says, "Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words, thou shalt be justified and by thy words, thou shalt be condemned". A gossip who continue in his pattern invites judgment, and God's judgment is something any right-thinking individual should strive to avert.

Your goal should be to stop gossiping from today, and you can do that. One major step to stop it is always to ask yourself a question. Whenever you talk about anybody who is absent, ask yourself these questions: “Would I be telling this story if he were here?” Am I hiding this conversation from anyone? Am I ashamed of it?” “Would I want someone else to talk this way about me if I were not in this room?” When you genuinely answer these questions from your heart, you will discover whether what you are about to say is gossip. 

Indeed, there are times when we can and must speak about people who are not present. You are not being a gossip when you call the police about a crime you witnesse, when you earnestly seek counsel on how to relate to someone in your life, or when you carefully warn someone else about a dangerous person. The presence of gossip largely depends on how you talk about people who are not present and why you talk about them. 

May God help you to overcome gossip and be a servant whose words of mouth and meditation of heart are acceptable to the lord. God bless you and bye for now.