I have watched friends and families suffer untold pain because of gossip…
The information someone dumps on you without your consent and consent of the person involved. It can be true, partially true, or completely false.
Now what’s the difference between Rumors and Gossip?
Rumors are pieces of information or a story that has not been verified. What this means, is that the person telling the story does not know for certain if it is true or not. Most of the time, people who spread rumors do not bother to determine if there is any truth to what they are saying.
Gossip is slightly different from a rumor. Usually, gossip involves a juicy detail of some sort, which means the information is shocking or personal. What’s more, gossip is usually spread behind a person’s back and can be very hurtful. Gossip usually involves love, relationships, sex, and other issues that people usually do not talk about publicly. Additionally, gossip almost always causes pain and humiliation for the person it is about. People share gossip without any thought of how it might impact the person it is about.
It can be motivated by good intentions, but it always contains negative information and color’s people’s perceptions of someone unjustly. The person being torn down is out of the loop because talebearers usually avoid speaking directly to the one they are demeaning.’
So set the standard for your own life by evaluating people based on your experience with them, not on what somebody else says. Second-hand information is notoriously unreliable and misleading, and it violates Christ’s command to ‘treat people the same way you want them to treat you.’ When you have been hurt by tittle-tattle, you can relate to the wisdom of those words.
Rumors and innuendos may seem innocent and come to you subtly, but even if someone isn’t operating in malice, their motive is irrelevant. Spreading gossip defies walking in love and looking for the best in others. ‘Never pass anything on that will hurt somebody. “Love covers over a multitude of sins “and the talebearer has no place in God’s favour.
