What Does Love Do With What I Know About Another Person?
Gossip is about far more than words. It touches how we see one another, how we love one another, and how the world sees Jesus through us. In these three blogs, we'll look at what Love does when another person's story finds its way into our hands.
Before The Words Leave My Mouth
The Power We Hold In Another Person's Story
"The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to the inmost parts." Proverbs 26:22
Words Have A Life
Have you ever wondered why gossip can be so difficult to resist?
Proverbs describes gossip as a choice morsel. Something about knowing what we weren't supposed to know, or sharing what someone else hasn't heard, appeals to something within us.
Yet once those words leave our mouths, we have very little control over where they go or what someone else adds to them.
A few careless words can travel farther than we ever intended and remain long after we've forgotten saying them.
Someone's Story
I've watched a person's reputation, built faithfully over many years, become tarnished by one conversation. I've seen friendships damaged, families divided, and people deeply wounded by words spoken when they weren't in the room.
That becomes much harder for me to do when I remember who I'm talking about...
This is someone Abba loves, someone Jesus gave Himself for, and someone the Holy Spirit knows completely.
Their story deserves to be held in that Love.
When Love Knows Something
Not everything we know needs to be repeated, even when it's true. There are times when something must be shared with the right person for someone's safety, healing, or help, but Love never uses another person's weakness to make a conversation more interesting.
Before I share what I know, one question helps me:
What does Love do with what I know about this person?
Love doesn't need to make someone smaller so I can feel bigger. It protects their dignity, believes the best, and remembers that behind every story is someone deeply loved by our Father.
Sometimes Love speaks. Sometimes Love lovingly confronts. Sometimes Love helps.
And sometimes Love simply refuses to repeat a story that was never ours to tell.
Reflection
What draws me into conversations about someone who isn't present?
Would I say these words if that person were sitting beside me?
What would Love do with what I know?
Prayer
Abba Father, let Your love shape what I see, what I say, and what I choose not to say. Amen.