Daily Devotionals

Truths to Live By - One Day at a Time

Devotional: October 8th

“Speak not evil one of another, brethren.”

While the word “gossip” is not found in the King James Version of the Bible, the idea is certainly included in such words as backbiting, evil speaking, and whispering. And it goes without saying that the practice is uniformly condemned.

To gossip means to reveal information about another person that is designed to put him in a bad light. In other words, the information is mean or unkind. Usually there is the element of secrecy or confidentiality; the person doing the gossiping would not want to be quoted.

Two women in Brooklyn were talking. One said, “Tilly told me that you told her what I said about her and I told you not to tell her.” The other replied, “She’s a mean thing. I told Tilly not to tell you I told her.” The first speaker responded, “Well, I told Tilly I wouldn’t tell you she told me—so don’t tell her I did.”

There are rare souls in the world who never say anything negative about another person. I have known such, and admire them beyond my powers of description. One told me that if he couldn’t say anything good about someone else, he would say nothing. Another said he always tried to see something in other believers which reminded him of the Lord Jesus. A third started to say something negative about a third party, then he interrupted himself in the middle of the sentence and said, “No, it wouldn’t be edifying.” (I’ve been dying of curiosity ever since.)

Paul had heard that there were contentions among the Corinthians. In confronting them with the fact, he said that he had been told by the household of Chloe. Clearly Chloe’s family was not gossiping. They were sharing the information so that the problem might be solved.

The Apostle also wrote some strong words against Hymeneus, Alexander and Philetus (HYPERLINK "javascript:" ; HYPERLINK "javascript:" ), because they were harming the cause of Christ. He also warned Timothy about Phygellus, Hermogenes and Demas (HYPERLINK "javascript:" ; 2 Timothy 4:10), men who seemingly turned back after putting their hand to the plow. But this was not gossip. It was important intelligence for believers engaged in a common warfare.

When someone came to a noted preacher with a juicy bit of gossip, he took out a black notebook and told the gossip that he would write it down, have the talebearer sign it, and pass the information on to the person involved. It is said that he opened the book hundreds of times but never made a single entry.