Daughters of Promise November/December 2013 | Page 13

degrading remarks, are selfish,
careless, humorous at the
expense of others, and even
self righteous. Let’s face it girls.
We label a lot of conversations
with godly sounding words like
“prayer request” or “concern”
when they really should have a
big poison sticker plastered on
them.

I don’t want to just dwell on the
damage that words can do,
but before we get to the good
stuff, I think it would serve us
well to define several kinds of
unruly evil, namely gossip
and slander.

A: Gossip

is

talking about a problem when you are
neither part of the problem nor part of the
solution.

DEFINITION B: Being

Slander is the worst form of gossip. It is a
deliberate take-down of someone else’s
reputation. Think about it: we would never
actually kill someone, would we? But many
of us don’t think twice about destroying
them with the poison of our words.
Have you ever asked yourself if what you
are listening to or saying is really gossip?
When I’m not sure if I’m entering a gray
area, I ask myself a few questions:

GOSSIP,
DEFINED:

DEFINITION

are completely true, but in the most brutal
way.

entertained by

something that causes someone else pain.
I often ask myself this: would I listen to it/say
it, if the person I was talking about was
standing right here? If the answer is no,
then I had better put down the poison and
run.
Gossip can either be true or completely
incorrect. It doesn’t necessarily have to be
a ½ truth or a falsehood to qualify as
gossip. Sometimes the things being said

a.
Does it pass the Philippians 4:8 test?
b. Am I part of the problem or solution?
c.
Does contrasting their failure or
weakness make me look good in
comparison?

THE CASE FOR
CAUTION:
GOSSIP

PERPETUATES

LIES

THAT

OUGHT TO HAVE DIED.
Let them die. Remember the fire that
James was talking about? Be the
conversational wet blanket, the tanker full
of water that put