Scripture
Fire goes out without wood, and quarrels disappear when gossip stops.
~Proverbs 26:20, NLT
Quote
Be careful about jumping to conclusions, you may land on a lie.
~IDRWSI
My mother taught me that things are seldom what they appear but I had to learn this lesson the hard way. The great majority are under the illusion that where there is smoke, there is fire. What they fail to understand is that gossips have created all the smoke. Gossips enjoy analyzing situations and then jumping to conclusions which they treat as fact. A flirtatious man or woman is not necessarily having an affair, usually it is the opposite. When we begin to meddle and try to sort out what is going on in the lives of others, we get ourselves in trouble. My rule of thumb: mind your own business. If you are like me, you have enough problems to deal with yourself. Some folks give false impressions just for shear meanness. Be careful or you will take the bait. Solomon has a word of wisdom to those who tease, toy, or flirt without serious intentions: “don’t give the gossips fuel.” They are watching and waiting for a story. When you give them a false impression, they immediately jump to the wrong conclusion and fabricate something that may be the opposite of the truth. So it is wrong to gossip but it is also unwise to give them something to gossip about.
Solomon deals with five improper uses of the tongue in Proverbs 26: Gossip, cursing, flattery, slander and false witness [lying]. There are others such as tale-bearing [stink stirring], quarreling, and back-biting. Solomon’s purpose is to help us see the devastating consequences of the malicious use of the tongue. When a conversation turns malicious, bad things happen. Beware when others do it and guard against doing it yourself. Never underestimate the power of the tongue to destroy and never use it as a weapon. We all sin and come short of the perfection we see in Christ. We all do low down and despicable things that later we are ashamed of but be real careful to whom you confess your deed of darkness. Judas confessed but he basically confessed to the devil. A gossip cannot keep a confidence. Never share your failure with a gossip. How many confidences do you have to break to be untrustworthy? ONE! Some people cannot be trusted with vital information.
Years ago, a young and very successful pastor, decided to share with his deacons a personal problem. He trusted them to pray for him and to keep his confession in confidence. A few months after his confession, one of the deacons got upset with the pastor and it anger and malice, he began spreading the pastor’s confession to anyone who would listen. The church was growing in leaps and bounds but the rumor mill lead to the pastor’s resignation. To my knowledge, they church has not grown since and I have no idea what happened to this young pastor. Gossip which is borderline slander, is always a cover for envy, jealously and hatred. It is the primary sin of little people.
I will be going to GRACE POINT for the next few weeks. This small church is located just across from Brewer High School. It is a young church, less than 20 years old and DBC is their sponsoring church. At present, they are without a pastor. I have committed to five weeks but I will be at DBC on Sunday nights which means it will not effect our SMALL GROUP. I will be able, LORD willing, to get the biscuits and donuts but Bill will have to take over in Jim’s absence and we have to get someone to drive the van on Wednesday night for Awana. Noah will take care of it tonight. LORD willing, I will be at the Sunrise Service at DBC this Sunday. I thought I would stay busy with random opportunities but after 15 months, I realize that is not the case and of course, I want to preach. This is just for five weeks and I will continue to help Joe David visit hospitals and such. I will continue to minister to the Senior Adults. By the way, June and I had a great visit with Brenda Livingston on Monday and she got a good report and is very upbeat. Brenda is a hard worker and very independent. As long as she can go and do for others, she will be happy and it does appear that her cancer is treatable: Praise Jesus.
My schedule is messed up and I’ve had computer problems but we are going to go back to posting on the night before. The dates will be wrong but at least when you get up, there will be a new post. WORD PRESS did go by Britain’s time until recently but now if I post at 11:59 pm, it will be dated for that day, not the next. Before, I could post anytime after 6:00 pm and it would be dated on the following day.