Sunday Afternoon Musings
(Excerpt from this morning’s message)
Why?
Why is it so easy to gossip?
It slips into conversations like pounds on a 32 year old who doesn’t realize that his metabolism has changed. It’s not there and then it is in the blink of an eye. Why is it that our hearts, in Matt Mitchell’s terms are “springloaded” to receive and dispense gossip? (cf. Resisting Gossip, chapter 2)
Does it surprise you that the Bible has an answer for why?
Jeremiah 17:9
“The heart is deceptive above all things
desperately sick;
who can understand it.”
Let’s embrace not just this truth, but the truth that it drives us to—we need a Savior. We need a rescuer who will save us from the judgement we are already due over the careless words of our mouth (cf. Matthew 15:18-19). And then, because we have been redeemed, because we have been forgiven, because we have been shown such unmerited grace and favor from our God, let’s amend our ways to reflect the glory of the holy One who calls us to Himself.
Biblical antidote: Ephesians 4:29
“Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification, according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear it.”
