Whoever slanders their neighbor in secret, I will put to silence; whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart, I will not tolerate. – Psalm 101:5

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 4, 2016): Psalm 101

A headline on MSN recently caught my attention. It read “Prince’s potential heirs: Meet the late Icons family.” What followed was a discussion of who the singer was close to, and which members of the family had lost contact with him. I hate to admit how easy it is to distract my mind from purpose to chaos. As I am reading the article, a question creeps in from the back of my mind. Why do I care? I know that I am not on the list. I am pretty sure none of my friends are on the list. I wasn’t even really a fan of his music. I knew who he was. I made fun of his name change. At one youth camp, I held up a football and said that I was changing my name to this unpronounceable symbol. Henceforward I should be called “The Youth Pastor formerly known as Garry.” It worked for a couple of days until the joke grew tiresome. So why do I care so much about what happens to his wealth?

But gossip seems to have this effect on us. We all decry gossip, but when it arrives at our doorstep most of us are drawn into listening to the words, at least for a while. We want the juicy tidbits of information. Knowledge is power, even when that knowledge arrives in the form of gossip and we all want to be in the possession of that power. So we listen, or read, we waste our time on things that really only take our minds away from the things that are really important to our lives. We become distracted. And the gossip sites grow, as do the gossip people in our midst. We feed them. We want more.

David says that whoever slanders in secret, he will silence. And if once again he sounds like a gangster, the reality is that his choice of words is gangster like. The word he uses for silence means annihilate or put to an end. But I am not sure that he is advocating fitting the gossip with concrete shoes. One way to silence the gossip is to simply stop listening. I know, it is countercultural, but I think halting our own listening is absolutely necessary.

Don’t get me wrong. God loves those who gossip as much as he loves any of the rest of us. But the Bible speaks consistently about using our tongues to build up and strengthen. Too often we ignore the Bible and use our words to tear down and destroy. Gossip is one of the ‘sins of the church’ that needs to be actively dealt with. Our mantra and code of behavior need to be the reminder that Paul gives to the Ephesians.  Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen (Ephesians 4:29). This needs to be who we are. Not the gossips of the past, but those who speak life to all who are around us now, and forever more.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 103