Peace

I'd like to share a little bit about peace.

I want to start with probably one of the best verses on the subject, Philippians 4:6-7

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Ok, first off, probably the most obvious thing is: 

Not being anxious is a command. 

So, if we're Bible-believing Christ-followers, we have to recognize that anxiety, fear, and worry are sins that separate us from God. Jesus went to the cross to remove not only the punishment for committing those sins, but also to remove them from our life entirely! We need to repent when we worry. To come to God, ask for forgiveness and then start living without anxiety in our lives!

And right off the bat, just to cut off thoughts of "I can't," Philippians 4 is the SAME CHAPTER that has the verse, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." You have NO EXCUSE. (Sorry for the caps, it's just really important that we let those thoughts go.)

Isaiah 26:3, "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you."

Perfect peace! This means no anxiety in your life! It's possible! Don't believe this lie that says you have to worry.

Also notice that:

Peace is linked to trust in God.

Peace is an absence of fear, anxiety and worry.  

2 Thessalonians 3:16, "Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all."

One of the names of God is the "Lord of Peace." In our search to know God better, do we know Him as the Lord of peace? How many times do we call Him by that name? 

And notice that the peace isn't temporary, not a band-aid. "Peace at all times in every way." That's pretty intense!

And to go back to the first verse, the Lord of Peace gives us peace that "transcends understanding." His peace will get you scratching your head thinking, "You know, this is a situation when any self-respecting person would be frightened and intimidated, but I'm not! That's crazy! That doesn't make and sense!"

1 Peter 5:6-7, "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you."

Many times fear keeps us from exercising the fruits of the spirit. This is especially true with peace. Out of fear we want to hold on to our anxieties, trying to control what happens to us so that we don't get hurt. When we inevitably do get hurt we hold on even tighter believing it will save us next time. It's insanity.

Notice that this verse connects peace with humility. Being anxious is prideful. It's saying that you have the power to affect things by being independent from God.


John 16:33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

Obviously "You will have tribulation" isn't one of the most joyous promises of the Bible, but notice that it's surrounded on both sides with the assurance that God is in control, and we're not supposed to worry. Peace isn't the absence of hardship or heartbreak. It's the God-given ability to cast those cares on the only one that can actually do something about them.

So you're thinking, "Ok, I'm ready for the peace, where do I start?"

1) Peace is a fruit of the spirit. You CANNOT have real fruit without being connected to the vine. If you're talking with God on occasional weekends and holidays, you're stuck with the anxiety you've got.

Get into the Word, build your faith and trust in Him. Start writing down your interactions with God. Sometimes we pray for something to happen, and when God steps in miraculously, we don't even notice, much less give Him the credit.

2) Isaiah 26:3, "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you." Start working on your thinking. If you're always thinking, "I'm all alone on this, there's no one to help me out." You're going to have a hard time not being afraid. Begin to think, "The God that created the universe is literally on all 4 sides of me right now. He's got my back. He goes before me. He's at my right and left hand."

3) Ask for it! Begin to ask God for His peace just as fervently as you ask for the difficult situations in your life to change. Exercise peace by relying on God in more tough circumstances. Most people don't need situations to change as much as they need the peace of God to get through them. 

Old Faithful

I was teaching some of my students about the fruit of the spirit this week. You know, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control? And we spent a little bit more time on faithfulness than I had originally planned.

What is faithfulness? One side of faithfulness is being full of faith, believing for something against all odds. But looking at some of the other fruits in the list, I'm more inclined to believe that faithfulness is sticking with one's commitments to God and their community.

Being faithful means being consistently trustworthy. Like Old Faithful here.

And what's cool about the fruit of the spirit is you get it for free if you're abiding in Him!

Some examples of faithfulness in the Bible:

"Thy word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against Thee" (Scripture memorization)

"Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some" (Church attendance)

"Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints" (Constant Prayer)

So many times we have excuses for not being faithful:

"Man, I've just been so tired this week with school starting and this new job. It's really taken a lot out of me." Doesn't the Bible say somewhere about believers being able to run and not grow weary, walk and not faint? Yes it does.

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to help out like I said I could, I've just had so many other things come up this week." I think one side of being faithful is the ability to not make promises you might not keep. Let your "yes be yes" and your "no be no." It's alright to say no to something if you can't be committed to it. Don't be guilted into making promises you can't keep.

"Sorry I'm late, getting the kids in the van was rough, couldn't find the diaper bag and there was so much construction on the way and..." Usually this is how excuses for being late go. It's never just one thing. It would be a powerful witness to an unsaved world if Christians developed a reputation for being on time every time. This means you'll have to risk being early *gasp* to meetings. You'll have to make fewer commitments.

One of my friends says that if you are five minutes late to a rehearsal, you're putting your five minutes ahead of everyone else's five minutes collectively. If there are 11 other people on your team, that's potentially an hour of wasted time.

I realize that this sounds harsh. I get it.

But being faithful when it's uphill is just as powerful as being loving when it's uphill.

Being faithful when it's difficult is just as important as being self-controlled when it's difficult.

Being faithful during extreme circumstances is just as rewarding as being peaceful in extreme circumstances.

So resist the urge to give up when you're bored. Resist the urge to move on before your commitment is fulfilled.

But the bottom line is: abide with Christ and faithfulness will follow.

Godly Speech - Part 2: The Bad Stuff

Yesterday we talked about a few things that are present in Godly speech. Let's dig a little closer into what bad speech is and how we can avoid it.

#1 - Lying (...and covering it up)
Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death, 
Is the man who deceives his neighbor, And says, “I was only joking!”
Proverbs 26


Everybody knows - THOU SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS - and sometimes the King James  English leads us to believe that God's just not ok with cases of perjury. Almost like we have to break an oath on a Bible to be really lying. The truth is that if your motives are deceitful, if you're telling anything other than what accurately happened, you're bearing false witness.

This is really hard, I know. Right now I'm watching everything I say to try to remove all exaggeration from my speech. This means if there's a pile up on the side of the road and I think there are three cars but I say "4 or 5" to make a better story, I'm in sin. If I'm mad at someone for frequently being a few minutes behind and I say, "You're always late" when in truth they have been on time twice, I'm in sin.

#2 - Gossip (...but arguing that it's the truth)
A perverse man sows strife, 
And a whisperer separates the best of friends.
Proverbs 16

Every time that I can remember catching someone gossipping their answer to me is, "but it's true!" I believe gossip is a separate sin than lying. Sometimes they go together, especially lying by exaggeration, but more often than not there's a grain of truth to gossip. Gossip is talking negatively about someone when they are not there. Gossip is telling secrets that shouldn't be told (Proverbs 11:13).

#3 - Crude language (...but not as bad as it could be)
Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, 
which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.
Ephesians 5

Crudeness is a symbol of coolness because coolness has become equal to a relaxed view of God's standard. People who use crude language forget that God is present everywhere. If they were aware of His presence their speech would become a lot cleaner. Proverbs says, "The tongue of the righteous is choice silver." And I think it's because the righteous know God.

David was aware of God's presence and His attitude was, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer."

When your thumb catches the door do you need profanity to come out of your mouth? Or are you doing it because it feels good to say? And while you're arguing about which words are worse than other words, which words are ok and which are not, you're letting the worldly culture decide what God likes and what He doesn't.

Foul language is like a spot on a formerly spotless lamb. You can't be spotless if you have a spot, no matter how faded or greyed-out the spot is.  (Don't worry, God is good at getting out stains)

Just a thought, the verse above gives a substitute for fowl language. Is it possible to give sincere thanks when sudden pain or sadness occurs?


So in closing, I'd like to address a likely response. To those saying I'm dwelling too much on the letter of the law instead of the spirit, I say don't throw out the law because it's not convenient or inspiring. To those saying that we're under grace instead of the law, a new covenant instead of the old, I say that the standard increased the moment Jesus said it did. It's now not only the actions of our hands and lips, but the condition of our heart that matters. I love how the English Standard Version translates Matthew 5:19.

Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.


Whoever relaxes the commandments. Are you like me, with a tendency to justify your sin? Remember that God calls you to be holy, just like He is holy.

Godly Speech - Part 1: The Good Stuff

Speech is very important to God. If you read in Proverbs, you'll find out very quickly what kind of talk is pleasing to him.  These are all verses just from the 16th chapter of proverbs:

Righteous lips are the delight of kings,
And they love him who speaks what is right.


The heart of the wise teaches his mouth,
And adds learning to his lips.


Pleasant words are like a honeycomb,
Sweetness to the soul and health to the bones. 


An ungodly man digs up evil, 
And it is on his lips like a burning fire. 


A perverse man sows strife, 
And a whisperer separates the best of friends.

Today I want to talk about the good speech that's supposed to come from our mouths. Tomorrow I will talk about the bad speech.

#1 - Encouragement (...even when things don't meet your standards)
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, 
as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
Ephesians 4

It's not a blessing when you discourage people. If someone has a dream or a calling, don't take it upon yourself to be the practical, level-headed one. You should come along side them as their full of faith friend!

God's default attitude is not pessimism. It's not apathy or dismissal. We don't surprise Him when we succeed, He was rooting for us all along! So when you're talking with people You need to have the same posture. You need to be encouraging the dreams of the people around you. God said those who delight themselves in Him will be given the desires of their heart! God will fulfill the desires He has given.

#2 - Joy (...in every circumstance)
A happy heart makes the face cheerful, 
but heartache crushes the spirit.
Proverbs 15 

I know you have ten excuses for why you're in a bad mood today and it's just a phase and you'll get over it once that problem at work gets solved or your visiting family goes back home, but have you thought that maybe the enemy has figured out how to deprive you of strength to stand? You lose your joy whenever something stressful comes up, you think the devil doesn't notice? The Bible says the joy of the Lord is our strength. It's our energy to get up and walk out of valleys instead of just staying there moping. 


The worst part is when you've been de-joyed you get frustrated that people want to talk about how good God is. Don't fall for this trick! You've got to believe that when you put on joy you'll gain the strength to fight.

This is in the speech post because the Bible says out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. Most of the time negativity is simply a lack of joy.

#3 - Praise (...all the time)

I will bless the LORD at all times; 
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; 
The humble shall hear of it and be glad. 
Oh, magnify the LORD with me, 
And let us exalt His name together. 
Psalms 34

I heard someone say that God doesn't get any glory for something He's done for you unless you tell someone about it. We sing all the time, "I give You glory" but the truth is God's glory is in who He is and what He's done.

We talk all the time about what our favorite sports team or actor did. The when the Olympics arrive we'll all be talking about the amazing things the athletes are accomplishing. We can very easily spend more time praising people in the news than we do praising God.

Jesus said that if He is lifted up He will draw all men unto Himself. This was a picture of the cross, but I also believe that it was a spiritual picture of our strategy for reaching the lost and drawing Christians closer to Jesus. When we talk about Jesus and lift His Name and reputation up, He gets inside their hearts and tugs them towards Him. The Bible says we overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony. The blood has been shed, now we need to tell somebody about what God has done!

The Character of God: Holy

Last week we took a look inside what it means that God is love. I believe this is important to what we are meditating on this week, which is the holiness of God.

There are more references in the Bible to God being holy or righteous than there is of God being love. God's holiness does not diminish His love, and His love does not diminish His holiness.

Just as His love demanded a response from us, His righteousness demands a response.

"He who has been forgiven much loves much."
"Be ye holy as I am Holy." 

Read with me this passage from 1st Peter, which is titled "Living Before God Our Father."

"Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear."

There are a lot of truths in this passage, let's dig a little deeper.

1) - "Be sober." When we interact with God our Father we're not meant to be flippant of light. His holiness is meant to be sobering. His holiness demands a response filled with respect and awe. Later on in the chapter it talks about the sacrifice of the precious blood of Jesus that has been spilled for our redemption. We're walking in sin when we enter His presence without the context of His sufferings.

 2) - "As obedient children." A loving father and His obedient children is the relationship we're meant to have with God. His love manifests itself in grace: an unmerited or undeserved favor. It also manifests itself in disciplining. This next passage will blow your mind if you let it get inside you:

“My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.” If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness."

Love, Sonship, Fatherhood, Chastening, Respect, and Holiness are all linked together!! You cannot have a loving father without his disciplining. And you cannot truly love God without respecting Him, obeying Him, and fearing Him.

3) - "Not conforming yourselves to your former lusts." You don't get to be adopted into the Kingdom and keep your sin. The whole Bible is full of rebuke for those that claim to want to follow God but continue in sin. The Bible is described as a two-edged sword, capable of dividing our soulful nature (our feelings and thoughts) with our spiritual nature (the part of us that wants what God wants).

4) - "He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct." Yes, God's standard is high. Yes, the law is impossible for anyone but Jesus to walk out blamelessly. But God doesn't just wink at our sin. He calls us to be holy just like Him! Bear in mind these are all New Testament verses. Even in this new covenant we're still supposed to be holy!

5) - "Judges according to each one’s work" Anyone who tells you that God will not judge you is not telling you the truth. Take a look at 2nd Corinthians 5:

"Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord"

When Jesus comes back it won't be an option to arrogantly say, "Because of Jesus' sacrifice it doesn't matter what I did." This verse says that we're going to receive something in return for all of our good deeds, as well as all of our bad. And I find it appropriate that the writer of 1st Peter goes into the "terror of the Lord" just in case you missed the mood in which you should be taking these things.

6) - "In fear." Take a look at what the Bible has to say about Godly fear:

Psalm 111:10: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments.


Proverbs 1:7: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.


Proverbs 10:27: The fear of the Lord prolongs days, But the years of the wicked will be shortened. (The fear of the Lord will make you live a long time!)

Psalms 112 takes a good look at what the fear of the Lord looks like.

His ways are higher than our ways. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. Don't let your ideas of what you think holiness is put God in your little box. When He asks you to remove sin from your life don't call it unloving. When He forgives and gives you mercy for the sins you've committed don't use it as an excuse to sin more. God's holiness will never fit into your idea of what holy is, just as God's love will never fit into your idea of what love should look like.

So how do we walk this out?

Tip #1 - Ask God to make you holy as He is holy. Once you became a Christian God cleaned you of all unrighteousness. Now it's your turn to be devoted to the kind of lifestyle that will keep you in that state of holiness! The Psalmist did it like this in Psalms 139: "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."


Tip #2 - Worship God in the beauty of holiness. (Psalms 96:9) Holiness is beauty to God. It was the spotless lamb that had everyone's attention in the book of revelation. Ask God to reveal to you the beauty of His holiness, and worship Him for being Holy. God is worthy of worship just because He's holy, regardless of the things that He does, so this is something that you can worship Him for even if it seems like your circumstances aren't the way they should be.

Tip #3 - Stay rooted. Stay locked into the Word of God, which is sharper than any two edged sword. If you are living in sin, the Word of God will root it out quicker than anything. And it's a strategy of the enemy to keep you as far from the Bible as he can keep you.

5 Ways To Tell If You Are A Burden To Be Lifted Or A Burden Lifter.

Are you lifting people up or are they lifting you up?

I realize that this is a more complex issue than the question implies, but as a trend, are you the influencer or the influencee?

There are a few of my friends that seem like every second thing they say is a complaint about the way things are. Their opportunities, the weather, their parents, their clothes, their health. Everything that's not "amazing" ends up ruining their day.

There are a few of my friends that encourage me immensely by their constant good attitude. Everything that's going well they are thankful for, and the things that don't go well don't matter at all because they're standing on a rock so firm they'll never be shaken.

Ephesians 5:20 says that we are to give thanks "always for all things" which means we're supposed to somehow give thanks for things we don't like.

I don't see any thing in the Bible that gives us a license to complain no matter how bad our situation is. In Job when God heard complaining He gave Job chapters and chapters of rebuke. Jesus said in His sermon on the mount, "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven."

If you're constantly down in the dumps over something wether it be small or large, you're not living according to how the Bible says we ought to live. And what will happen is you'll be the weight that your friends have to lift off of the ground every day, instead of being a lifter for someone else.

How do you know what category you're in? How do you know if you're a pro or a con? Here are a few tips:

 - Can you point to 5 people in your life that you encourage on a regular basis? Or 5 people that you can't wait to complain to?

 - Check out your last 10-20 facebook statuses. Were they "Valentines Day Sucks" or "I hate all this snow"?

 - When you talk with someone, what's the first subject you discuss? Is it how busy or tired you are from this, that and the other thing? Or is it filled with thankfulness and joy?

 - Do you use scripture in an encouraging way or just to prove your point?

 - Is your conversation me-centered or you-centered?

As a parting thought, James 1 says "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials." So the point that you are the most joyous, should be the point that you feel the most tried. That's a tall order.

6 Excuses Given When Saying No To Discipleship

I've been dwelling on excuses that people give lately (me included.) There's a lot of them, especially when it comes to living righteously with obedience to everything God calls them to.


Excuses:

 - I don't want to be legalistic/religious.

 - God's standard is too high for anyone to meet.

 - I'm not called to be a missionary or full-time ministry.

 - Doesn't feel right to say you aren't supposed to do that.

 - I see great spiritual leaders doing those types of things all the time.

 - I haven't had the same opportunities

Reality:

 - Avoiding legalism should never be an excuse for a poor devotion life. If you're worried that it will turn into "going through the motions" don't get rid of the motions, put some fire behind them! The devil would love to label every act of righteousness as religioes legalism so that Christians never reach their spiritual potential.

 - God's righteous standard is too high. Get over it. It's not an excuse to sin. It's a call to live more righteously than what we're living now. The Psalmist asked God, "Search my heart, see if there be any wicked way in me." He was constantly in self evaluation mode, or more accurately, holy-spirit evaluation mode.

 - There is no second call for those who are supposed to live a "normal life." God's call for everyone, preacher, youth pastor, missionary, mechanic, plumber, teacher or waiter is to pray constantly, memorize and live out scripture, and worship God with abandon.

 - There's a way that seems right to a man and the end thereof is death. Don't trust your feelings. Trust every word in the Bible. I'm sure the pharisees int he Bible had a feeling that the messiah would come in thunder and lightning and save them from their roman oppressors. The messiah that actually came came went against every nerve in their bodies and that's why they got rid of Him.

 - Jesus says that there will be people who get to the judgement who have done great miracles such as healing people and casting out demons, and still won't make it into heaven. Don't get caught up in following people who have spiritual gifts. Follow people who are exhibiting fruit that was grown in the secret place of private devotion.

 - In the Parable of the Talents, the Lord gave three men talents, one he gave 10, another 5, and a third he gave 1. They each didn't have a separate standard by which they were judged, they were all called to fervent stewardship with what they were given. To simply give God back the things He's given you will not be enough come judgement day. You have to have ardent devotion to multiply what he's given. Don't be standing in front of the returning master of the house with a handful of seeds, get out there and grow some fruit!

Connected to the Vine?

I am confronted on a near-daily basis with this issue, and I really believe it's important to look at.

Every day I, or someone I know, justifies wrong-doing, bad attitudes, and other sin, with an excuse:

"I'm tired"
"I deserve it"
"They don't deserve it"
"It's culturally acceptable"
"No one told me not to"
"No one's perfect"
"That's not a realistic expectation"
"It's not as bad as that"

Jesus was very clear in the book of John about what the Christian walk was supposed to look like: fruit. If you're really connected to the vine, you'll produce fruit. If you're just next to the vine, then you'll look connected from some angles, but from others it'll be obvious.

Christians aren't supposed to be known by the fact that they attend church. And you know what, they aren't even supposed to be identified by carrying a Bible or posting verses to facebook.

Jesus says that people will know His disciples by their FRUIT.

You can look "shiny" or "new" or "on-fire," but if you're not connected to the vine, you won't bear fruit in ALL parts of your life.

By the way, fruit isn't success. Fruit is:

Love
Joy
Peace
Patience
Kindness
Goodness
Faithfulness
Gentleness
Self-control

If our lives don't look like that, the only explanation is we're not connected to the vine.

Yesterday, Today, and Forever

Sometimes it's difficult in a society that's constantly changing to remember that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

If society brands holiness as old-fashioned, it doesn't change the fact that God calls us to live rightly. The culture doesn't get to define what's right and wrong. We as created beings don't have the power to band together and change the standard set by the uncreated God.

If society brands marriage as boring and limiting, it doesn't change the fact that God created it as the most fulfilling human relationship. It's one of the most accurate parallels to how the church should relate to God.

If society brands faith in God as naive, it doesn't change the fact that God says He shall supply all of our needs according to His riches and glory. No amount of psychology-altering will change your circumstances unless God is involved. You can't work hard enough or think hard enough to fix your problems. Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain.

If society brands the Bible as intolerant, it doesn't change the fact that God is love just as He is a God of integrity. He was rejected by His creation but made a way for them to return to Him. Anyone who rejects His love in favor of their sin will be dragged into the fire by the sin they wouldn't let go of.

Regardless of the changing culture, God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. There is no shadow of turning in Him. And to top it all off, He's a great deal older than us. Our vast and glorious human history is but a vapor in His eternal eyes.

He's not surprised by the internet.

He's not caught off guard by the current mindsets.

He is forever faithful, forever holy, and forever loving.

Gossip

I think today we have a very narrow view on what gossip is. An image comes to my mind of two teenage girls laughing with each other over another girl's embarrassing secrets. We think, I'm not 14, I'm not a freshman in high school, and every story I tell is just for laughs.

Proverbs says, "He who covers over an offense promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends."

Now, some things must be told, a friend considering suicide for instance. But I believe that most of the gossip that is spread is done with good intentions. Gossip can be repeating someone's past to "warn" them about talking with them.

In my experience, when confronted about gossip, people say, "but it's true!" In my experience, most gossip is true.

It can be asking about somebody else's situation to "pray for them." Sometimes though we end up spending more time talking about the problem than on our knees in prayer about it.

Proverbs has boatloads to say about about gossip. That makes me think it's not as rare as it seems. 

A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy man keeps a secret.

The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man's inmost parts.

In fact, Jesus said, "But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken."


I want to take that seriously and not just shrug it off.