Just Say No!
Driving down
the street I came into a construction zone. Multiple houses were being built on
this particular site. I noticed a sign that read, “Free Dirt! We load! You Haul!” As I drove away the thought popped in my mind.
This is like gossip and a tattling tongue. A gossip is a person who is willing
to load you with free dirt on someone else’s life. with no payment
necessary or expected. Well, the gossip really expects a payment. The gossip wants the satisfaction for you to
haul the dirt away and spread it around somewhere else. The gossip’s payment is for you to be the
spreader. The cost to you is to have a sullied reputation.
Proverbs
tells us that gossip is like cheap candy. It asks the reader if you really want
that junk in your system. Proverbs
further warns us that the spreaders of gossip, which is usually slanderous, are
fools. I know my goal in life is not to
be in the company of fools or to be thought of as a fool.
The best way
to stop a gossip is to give that person a disapproving look, and refuse to
listen to it. Secondly, if you do coincidentally hear gossip you can be an
honorable person by not being a spreader or sharing it with others. Believe me gossip’s free dirt can be costly. I
heard this old saying, “A dog who brings a bone, takes a bone.” I know that I
don’t want to be the subject of some slanderous gossipy story so I think I won’t
be hauling any dirt to another location either.
And whoever spreads slander is a fool.
Proverbs 10:18b
Good analogy. Gossip can be so hurtful.
ReplyDeleteIf people gossip to you, they probably gossip about you too.