I really struggle with gossip.

To clarify, I don’t struggle with gossiping personally (not that I am perfect in this area). I struggle with the whole idea of gossip. I think its best defined as “something we say behind someone’s back that we would never say directly to their face.” I am always shocked at how prevalent gossip is, both inside and outside the church.

It’s not a new concept. Today we might have found more means for our gossip but it’s been something that the Scriptures have warned us about for years. Today as I was reading in the book of acts I saw some of the effects that gossip and it’s brother rumour can have. The apostle Paul has just arrived in Jerusalem after one of his missionary journeys. He has been working amongst the gentiles and had reported all the things God had done amongst them. He then went through the purification ceremony in order to be in the temple, a process that lasted 7 days. Then we read this.

When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help us! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.” (They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple.) Acts 21:27-29

What Paul was doing amongst the gentiles was not universally supported. The Jews had been the followers of the one true God for generations. They had built years of practise and rule around their following, so much so that it was hard for them to separate these practises from who God was himself. They weren’t being bad, they were trying to be zealous for God. But these gentiles were gaining access to God but weren’t doing any of the practises that the Jews had been following for years. We could forgive them for thinking that was wrong. That was the source of the gossip and rumour.

They took what Paul was doing, and their disagreement with it, and began to invent or misinterpret stories about Him. They talked about how he taught people to go against the law of God, His people, and His city. This wasn’t true. Then we find out that they assumed his wrong doing in another place as well.

I roll my eyes when I read this but it can happen so easily. So, I’ve decided to note a few helpful things that can help us avoid this assumption, rumour, and ultimately the sin of gossip.

• Avoid second hand news – gossip always comes to us through the hands of a second, third, or fourth hand source. If it comes from the source it’s called information! The reality is the way that communication works means that every time info passes from one person to another more and more of the truth of the story gets lost. Interpretation, tone, bias, and mishearing means that by the time we receive the ‘news’ we could have lost at least 50% of the truth that existed initially. When I hear second hand news I usually ignore it, or at the least don’t indulge in it.
• Don’t pass it on – because you can be sure that the gossip received is far from the entire truth it makes sense not to fuel the fire by adding in more bias to the conversation.
• Go to the source – if i haven’t been able to avoid hearing the second hand news and that news has an affect on me I believe it makes sense to go to the source if we can. That means we talk to the person the conversation is about and ask them for the truth of which we have heard. I often will tell the person who told me that this will be my next step to honour them as well – this usually stops them from bringing me any more gossip.
• Don’t lean on assumption – don’t take on, believe and live out, what you have heard from another without establishing the full truth. So often, as we can see in the passage, the story isn’t true or at least not fully true and we have falsely added weight to something that wasn’t accurate.
• Pray – it’s hard to gossip and pass on inaccurate information about someone or a situation when you are also praying for them. When I hear a story about w local church or pastor experiencing difficulty I try to start to pray as a reminder that need Jesus. When I do that it’s hard to be disparaging about that person!

Let’s be people who treat people honourably and let’s not indulge in silly chat that adds nothing to the Kingdom of God. Let’s instead fill our minds and mouths with the truth of Jesus and His coming Kingdom!!!