9. "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor."how about gossip…who doesn’t do that? so, where does that stand in God’s graces? here are a few passages that address this issue.
James 3:6 "The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell."
the tongue is a world of evil…not just evil, but a world of evil. i suppose that is used to indicate the sheer size of hurt that can be caused by a few ill-advised words. it corrupts the entire being of a person…it can become who they are and what they’re known for. in a world where we seem to remember the bad things more vividly than the good, those hurtful words can be stored in someone’s memory bank for quite a while, thus casting an image of who that person is to them for quite some time.
Proverbs 11:13 "A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy man keeps a secret."
if you can’ t trust someone at their word, or to guard an issue from gossip, then there is no confidence to base the friendship off of…that trust has been broken.
Proverbs 16:28 "A perverse man stirs up dissension, and a gossip separates close friends."
to piggyback off the last passage; gossip betraying confidence; gossip can ruin friendships. when the trust is gone, a person begins to question the basis for the relationship as a whole…whether that trust can be regained.
those last two should really hit home for many of us. i think it’s safe to assume we’ve all be involved in a situation when trust was broken due to something as petty as gossip. “gossip betrays confidence…gossip separates close friends”. i’m sure none of this is new to any of us, but the clarity that remains to be seen is when concern crosses the line into gossip. when love for someone and their decisions or well-being becomes secondary to the news that’s there to share. i’ve been there…on both ends. it’s funny how difficult it is for us sometimes to learn our lesson when we don’t see the lesson there to learn.
Matthew 7: 1-5 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."
to piggyback off the last passage; gossip betraying confidence; gossip can ruin friendships. when the trust is gone, a person begins to question the basis for the relationship as a whole…whether that trust can be regained.
those last two should really hit home for many of us. i think it’s safe to assume we’ve all be involved in a situation when trust was broken due to something as petty as gossip. “gossip betrays confidence…gossip separates close friends”. i’m sure none of this is new to any of us, but the clarity that remains to be seen is when concern crosses the line into gossip. when love for someone and their decisions or well-being becomes secondary to the news that’s there to share. i’ve been there…on both ends. it’s funny how difficult it is for us sometimes to learn our lesson when we don’t see the lesson there to learn.
Matthew 7: 1-5 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."
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