Meditations from Zion

Am I so sure that what I am saying about someone is true? When does gossip escalate to becoming slander? What is the motive for speaking badly of someone?

Romans 3:8a
Why not say—as we are being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim that we say—”Let us do evil that good may result”?

Motive! It gets me every time. I know the answer and I shrink at the thought of it. So often, I know, I speak badly of someone just to elevate myself. “Oh, listen to what ‘so and so’ did or said” and of course, the underlying implication is that I would never be so stupid or cruel or thoughtless. And yet, there I am being stupid, cruel, and thoughtless all the same.

I have a tendency already to talk and think at the same time. It’s like I have to hear myself before the thought is thoroughly formed. Generally, when I put my foot in my mouth, I just keep talking, back peddling as it were, and eventually, I manage to talk myself out of a corner. But too often, the words are said, the damage is done, and I have cast aspersions.

Over time, “gossip” has been symbolized by two women babbling in the back yard over a fence. It’s “koffee klatch” stuff, harmless. But really, isn’t it a form of slander?

Gossip and slander are sisters to pride. Why else would we imagine that it would be all right to say such things?

A man [or woman] who lacks judgment derides his neighbor, but a man [or woman] of understanding holds his [her] tongue. [Proverbs 11:12]

Stop my tongue, this day, O Lord. Help me choose silence over chatter.