Today’s reading: 1 Timothy 5:9-16
While Paul’s instruction is on taking care of church members, we can find some valuable nuggets for personal instruction woven throughout. Verse 13 holds one of those nuggets, when Paul offers some stern words about gossip. Paul only briefly mentions it (“. . . going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not.”), but these few words convey volumes.
Nothing good comes from gossiping. Some of the biggest hurts I’ve experienced have been because of gossip—both words directed at me or about me from others and words I foolishly and sinfully spoke to or about someone else. Growing up my mom used to tell me, “If you can’t say something nice about someone, then don’t say it at all.” At the time, I didn’t really give it a lot of thought (I probably did a few eye rolls when she wasn’t looking). It wasn’t until I was much older that I was able to fully grasp this sound and wise advice from my Godly mama.
When are you most tempted to gossip? What are some safeguards you have or can put in place to help you not speak words of gossip? How do you react when someone else starts gossiping? What are some ways you could respond to discourage and/or squelch gossip by others? Tami
Source: Tami’s Blog
