Rumor has it....

Beloveds- God was pressing on my heart to write about gossip. You wouldn’t believe the amount of Bible verses I came across that discussed or related to gossiping. Here is an interesting truth dear friends, as Christians did you know that when we gossip, slander, bash, mock, hurt, and/or lie about a fellow Christian we are actually doing that to God? The great Apostle Paul before he became a follower of Christ was a persecutor of Christians. Paul heard the voice of Jesus say in Acts 9:4-5 “Saul Saul why are you persecuting Me?” Paul replied “Who are you?” and the Lord said “I am Jesus who you are persecuting.”

WOW isn’t that convicting? Listen up, I want you to know if we persecute, slander, gossip about our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ you better expect God to deal with you. Have you ever heard of the saying “What comes around goes around”? I believe this to be very true, only when it comes around, the bite is much harder on us. Romans chapter 2 is very clear on what happens to those who judge others and in verse 3 Paul asked, “Do you think you will escape the judgment of God?” I can answer that with confidence, that’s a big NO! Please read chapter 2 of Romans, it is very humbling!

But let me inform you; you better know God protects His flock and believers, WE ARE HIS FLOCK! Jesus said in John 10:7 “I am the door of the sheep” and in verse 11, “I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd gives His life for His sheep.” Do you know what a shepherd does? He protects his sheep from being attacked by wolves, bears, or wild animals. We have to stop judging others precious ones. God has called us to be like Him. To me that means to protect each other, not break each other down.

Here is some great truth from the New Testament:

James 4:11 Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you
judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it.

1Peter 2:1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.

1 Peter 3:10 For, "Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.


If we could just do as Jesus commanded in Mark 12:30-31 there would be a lot less broken people in this world. “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength This is the first commandment. And the second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Hear me, if we are loving God the way we should with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, then it is easy to love our friends and even more so those whom you may consider your foe. We all gossip, guilty as charged; but now that I am growing closer to the Lord, I feel the Holy Spirit convicting me. In all honesty who feels better after bashing someone or spreading rumors? If the verse in Acts wasn’t convicting enough, know this: if we do not repent for our idle gossiping, we will be judged by the Lord God Almighty Himself, so I will just say, KNOCK IT OFF! I know men can run their mouths, but God must have known us women because these verses I believe are directed straight to us :D

Titus 2:3 Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is
good.

1 Timothy 5:13 Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things they ought not to.

I’m sure we have all played that game telephone where you sit in a circle, start off with a sentence, and then whisper into the person’s ear sitting beside you. You wait for the sentence to make it back to the original person and see how distorted the sentence became. If a person asks you to keep “it between me and you”, that doesn’t mean “between me, you, Susie, Mike, Clifford, Jill, and Jack.” Keep your word and integrity and God will honor your trustworthiness. To put it nicely, keep that sweet trap shut ;)

It’s about time we stop walking according to our flesh but through the POWER, STRENGTH, and LOVE of JESUS CHRIST! Amen! I’ll end with this, Christ was mocked, spat upon, beaten, whipped, beat down, and persecuted by the very people He came to save. His precious hands and feet nailed to a bloody cross, but He never stopped loving them- not even for one millisecond. Christ was the perfect example for us; love those who wrong us even until death. It doesn’t matter if we want to or not because it does not change His truth; He commanded it, now we must live it!