G is for Gossip

We might think we're just passing on the news from the local 'grapevine'. Are you sure about that? Often it is just gossip. Plain and simple. Unsubstantiated and often derogatory in nature, it can be so destructive.

There's plenty of verses about gossip in the Bible. Stuff about learning to tame your tongue. Here's another good one... can you be really sure that it's the whole truth? You could be someone else's lies with every word...

“You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness."
Exodus 23:1 (ESV)

Plus of course, it's often seen merely as a way to waste a bit of time and have some fun into the bargain. Except of course, for the nice bit of vicious character assassination that you are engaging in...

Yet we hear that some of you are living in laziness, refusing to work, and wasting your time in gossiping. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ we appeal to such people—we command them—to quiet down, get to work, and earn their own living.
2 Thessalonians 3:11-12 (TLB)