2 Cor 12:20-21 For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder. I am afraid that when I come again my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual sin and debauchery in which they have indulged.
Rom 1:29-30 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,
I once heard a radio skit that was about the passing on of a prayer request. By the time it got to the last person the poor husband who had been downsized was being gossiped about as if he were a lazy bum. It doesn’t matter if it’s a prayer request or an “innocent” conversation; we need to watch what we say. Any time our talk puts down another person in any way we are gossips, plain and simple. The other matter is that sometimes we tell things that have been shared with us in confidence. We live in an age where endless information is all over the place. Just take a look at Twitter or Facebook and you will see things from “I’m brushing my teeth” all the way to “I wrecked my car today”. Info told by the person is one thing, but usually it is not OK for us to share it. Jesus had the perfect answer to all this when He said, “in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” (Matt 7:12) Before you and I talk about some tid-bit, we should consider if this were about me would I want everyone to know it? Remember the pain you felt when some hurtful event became the topic of conversation around the area for months? So we should watch our tongues lest others have that same “WONDERFUL” experience. Proverbs 12:23 (The Message) says, “Prudent people don’t flaunt their knowledge; talkative fools broadcast their silliness”. Let us be prudent.