Jump Start # 545
Proverbs 26:22 “The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man’s inmost parts.”
Our passage today shows how delicious and desirable gossip can be, even though gossip is wrong. One of the difficulties of dealing with wrong things is that they seem to be so enjoyable to us. More than that, we can want wrong things. This is what makes the fight against sin difficult. Our struggle is not against something that is so terrible and ugly that we want nothing to do with it, instead, it can be like “choice morsels.” There have been songs in the past that have tried to excuse an immoral relationship as feeling so right. How can it be wrong, when it feels so right, the singer cries out.
“Choice morsels” describes a special food. This is not your everyday meat and potatoes meal. It’s what you get on special occasions. It makes me think of those wonderful desserts you see in the display cases of some unique restaurants. It’s like what you see in food magazines. Just looking at them makes you want to tear the page out of the magazine and start chewing on it. The passage says it goes down to a “man’s inmost parts.” We’d call that his innards. It’s good all the way down. It’s a deep experience.
Gossip is like that? Gossip is wrong. Remember? God doesn’t like one who repeats things. Generally, gossip begins with an opening warning, “I shouldn’t be telling you this…” Or, “Don’t repeat this to anyone…” Or, “What I’m going to tell you stays in this room.” Those warnings ought to be enough to close down the conversation, but they don’t. It does just the opposite. We wonder what’s coming? What’s the news that he knows and I don’t? Our innards long to know. We beg the gossiper to gossip. We promise that we can keep a secret. We are part of the crime because our ears are longing to hear something about someone. Our innards just want more.
Have you ever noticed that gossip is negative. We don’t share good things about others, it’s the bad things. It’s not praise worthy, it’s destructive. Why is it that way? Why do we have a craving in our innards for such stuff?
Could it be that gossip reveals that others are not perfect. They are not the knight in shining armor as everyone believed. They have chips and cracks in their character. That very thought isn’t new. God tells us that all have sinned. We know that. But hearing about someone’s flaws makes me think that he’s not all that he claims to be and he’s no better than I am. Gossip doesn’t inspire us to raise the bar, improve our character or be better. No, instead it’s a cheap excuse for us to remain just as we are. I think the main drive behind hearing the sordid stories of others is the fact we have a twisted desire to see others crash. Somehow that makes us feel better. It’s similar to an accident on a highway. Everyone on both sides have to slow down and look. We want to see what happened. Traffic backs up for miles in every direction. Gossip is the same. We want to see the wreck. We slow down to hear something bad.
Our passage isn’t praising gossip. Not at all. It’s showing the affect it has upon us. It goes way down into our inner parts.
Something else about gossip, it’s very hard to be the last one to hold it. Have you ever played the kid’s game, hot potato? Everyone tosses a potato, or a bean bag in the modern version, back and forth until a bell sounds. The last one holding it is out. That’s how gossip works. Someone repeats a story with a solemn warning, “do not tell anyone.” Well, I don’t want to be the last one holding this, so I tell someone. They feel the same, so they tell someone. If we get caught, we have a ready explanation, “I ONLY told one person,” as if that is acceptable.
Gossip ruins character. It destroys the good a person has tried to do. It tarnishes a name and makes a person to be untrustworthy. The King James Version uses the word “whisperer” for the word “gossip.” That is exactly how gossip is spread. It’s not proclaimed loudly, but quietly, one whisper at a time. One email at a time. One facebook message at a time. Just to one person. Just to my best friend. He then tells his best friend, which is ok, according to the rules of gossip. Best friend to best friend to best friend. Before long, nearly everybody knows. He can tell when he walks into a room and everyone looks at him. They all know something. They know, he doesn’t. He walks into a room and everyone stops talking. They know. He doesn’t.
Another thing about gossip, it’s often not true. It’s a stretch of the truth. It’s taking things out of context. It’s one side of the story, the worst side. It’s hear say and suspicion of a warped heart that longs to destroy someone else. If it is exposed to be an untruth, do you think the word passes around about what is right? Do best friends tell best friends who tell best friends what the real story is? That never happens. No one cares. They want the dirt not the truth.
What’s the solution? What can be done? First, change you appetite. Get a real distaste for the muck and mire of gossip. Realize if it’s spread about someone else, it will probably be spread about you. Stop a gossip in his tracks. When someone begins, “I probably shouldn’t say this…” That’s your cue. Interrupt them and say, “Then don’t say it.” When they start, “don’t tell anyone this…” Jump in and say, “then please don’t tell me.” Stop a gossip. When our innards turn against gossip, like my innards do to spinach, UGH, then you won’t be so eager to listen. Gossips are shut down if no one gives them an ear.
Instead of longing for gossip, we ought to be longing for righteousness. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…” Changing your appetite affects your living. Longing for God and goodness helps you to see the sunshine of life and the need for all people. Gossip tends to be dark.
Hope this helps. You might share this with your best friend…who will tell his best friend.
Roger