Telephone

"I am what the LORD says I am, not what others say I am."  (Adaptation from Charles Horton Cooley.)

"And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body..." James 3:6a

"But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison."  James 3:8

I was speaking with a friend of mine the other day, and she mentioned that there had been some repeated gossip about a comment I had made some months before.  I asked her what that so-called-comment was, and who was repeating it?  She couldn't remember the comment, and because it had been going around a few months back, she couldn't remember the persons who kept repeating it.  It bothered me because I don't remember making a comment that could be harmful or misconstrued in anyway, and I wished that I had been made aware of this while it was happening, so that I could confront those who seemed to have stretched something I said into something that was tasty fodder for the gossipers.

As I walked away from my friend, my heart was wounded.  I honestly purpose myself to be mindful of my words, so I was confused to why this happened?  To think others were talking about me behind my back and twisting innocent words that could question my testimony and defile the church body, I was reminded of a game I used to play at slumber parties.  It was called, Telephone.  We would all sit down on the floor in a circle, and one person would whisper something into the ear of the person sitting next to her.  That person would then whisper what she heard into the ear of the person sitting next to her, and so-on, until the last person in the circle would speak out loud, what was whispered in her ear.  The last person's words never matched the words of the person who started this chain.  Back then, it was funny.  It was a game.  

It's not so funny now.

Every time something that is innocently spoken and repeated, words are changed that turn into deadly poison.  It not only hurts the person whose words have been twisted, but it hurts those who hear the lies, and it hurts the person telling the lies, whether they see it or not.

Proverbs 6:16-19 tells us, "These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, an heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren."

I've learned three things that will prevent gossip:

1-Never say anything about someone that you wouldn't say to their face.

2-Never say anything about someone unless they are there to respond to what is being said.

3-Never listen to someone else's gossip.

At the end of the day, if you replay the words that you have spoken, would they be words that build up or tear down?

Satan twisted truth-

    don't be like him...

        Speak the truth in love-

            And be like Jesus...

                But that's just me!

"When you speak, remember, God is one of your listeners."  Amish Proverb