Gossip – Proverbs 11:12-13 – Highway of Holiness

But a man of understanding keeps silent …he who is trustworthy conceals a matter.

Do you want a challenge? When you learn something humiliating and personally agonizing about someone who has done you immeasurable harm, repeat it to no one. Do not spread it as gossip; do not share it during a prayer meeting under the guise of a prayer request; do not reveal it to a counselor in your quest for a forgiving heart. Repeat it to no one, not today, not ever.[1]

Seal your lips in the matter, and having determined to glorify God through your faithfulness not to spread gossip or nourish a vengeful spirit, plant your feet firmly on the holy ground upon which you have stepped. For unless you are one of the sainted few who has never been tempted by gossip or vengefulness, the sins of your past will arise in full battle array. They will clamor for you to relent in your determination to stand in love, integrity, and obedience to the instructions for righteous living the Lord has provided in His Word. Gossip will whisper that this dainty morsel is too good to hold back. Spiritual pride will rise up and argue that you must witness that the Lord was faithful to mete out punishment and judgment on the person who harmed you, allowing the sword of unkindness, once used so cruelly against you, to penetrate your enemy’s heart.[2] Revenge will cry out that the Lord has avenged you,[3] and what good is revenge unless you boast of it to others?

Banish these foes of your soul from your thoughts, and climb to a gloriously higher place, a place of freedom from the strangleholds of bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander, and malice.[4] Forbid crippling emotions residency in your heart, relegating them to the land farther than the East is from the West. Rather than gossiping, pray in sincerity for the Lord’s mercy on this person who has suffered some loss or mortification, and through your silence in this matter, you will prove yourself trustworthy to withhold that which is not profitable to disclose.

When you obey God’s Word by refusing to speak unwholesome, unedifying words,[5] you take a step further along the road of sanctification, so rejoice in the welcome healing of the spirit that comes with obedience to God’s Word, and delight in the glory, honor, and peace God gives to those who do what is right, just, and good.[6]

[1] Psalm 15:1-3

[2] Psalm 37:12-15

[3] Romans 12:19

[4] Ephesians 4:31

[5] Ephesians 4:29

[6] Romans 2:10