In my previous blog, I discussed the difficulty of communicating with people to resolve problems or conflicts, because it’s so challenging to get down to the heart of the matter and figure out what is really true. As I’ve continued to reflect on this, the third chapter of James has frequently come to my mind:
5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
So often, we speak of things about which we have no direct, factual knowledge. Sometimes we just don’t know, other times we’ve been misinformed, and still other times we trust the words of others without really knowing if they’re true or not. And yet in all of these situations, we tend to speak anyway and forget the incredible power of words, for better or for worse.
Perhaps nowhere is the power of words more clearly demonstrated than through the issue of gossip. One definition of gossip is, “casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as being true.” What typically happens is that words are accepted as true without being confirmed as such, and yet the words continue to spread from a small spark to a wildfire, as we saw in the James passage above. When people believe the words of others without knowing for sure if they’re true, the results are destructive, even catastrophic.
Maybe that’s why the first chapter of Romans mentions gossip in the context of so many terrible and harmful behaviors:
29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.
I used to wonder why gossip was included with such horrible behavior as murder and God-hating, but I think I understand now. Gossip essentially murders a person in terms of his reputation and what others think of him. If I gossip, I destroy a person’s character, I involve other people in my frustration, I stop growing as a person, I feel unjustly superior, I don’t forgive others, and I stay away from God. On the other hand, if I don’t gossip, I’m self-effective, I go to God, I avoid judging people, I’m tolerant (even forgiving) of others, I’m willing to suffer because people aren’t perfect, and I can still confront problems, in truth, when needed.
Gossip is inspired by Satan and hurts everyone involved. With God’s help, I’m going to work hard to deal in truth and not be the one who allows a small spark to ignite a great forest fire. Will you join me?
Troy Burns