Refuse the Dessert And Keep Your Heart Light:

“The words of a gossip are like sweet morsels; they go down to the inner most parts.” Proverbs 18:8

In Proverbs 6 the Bible reveals 7 things God detests. God hates a lying tongue and a false witness who puts out lies. In my opinion being a gossip walks toward these things God hates.

So many of us women say, I am not gossiping, I am telling the truth about this person! Gossip is talking about someone behind their backs and saying things you will not say to their face. Most of the time it is painted truth to make the story even more tempting to engage with and then the indulging begins.

In Proverb 18:8, it is describing the RECEIVER of the gossip. When someone gossips to us, we take it in like a sweet morsel, the info is so tasty and it burrows deep into our hearts. We want more! We can’t get enough! So we keep engaging with the gossiper and take the next bite and the next bite. Being the receiver is as SINFUL as being the gossiper.

Think about it this way, when we diet we often have the temptation of dessert. You want to avoid it, but it is so tempting, smells good and looks good. So we take one bite, then another, and then another. We end up blowing our heathy eating plan for the day.

Similarly, we are engaging and hanging out with a gossiper! You know you should avoid them but the info is so sweet and you take the first bite, then another, and then another. This is so relatable to me because I have been the engager of gossip and also the dieter avoiding dessert.

Many times gossip is ignited because of jealousy and what fatal effects this can cause. We may be saying things like, “can you believe she got invited” or “ how in the world would that guy like her?” Or “she thinks she is all that living in that house, driving that car, working at that company.” We are jealous of what others DO or HAVE – so we talk about them. This is gossip my friends and the effects can be fatal.

Gossip is real ladies. We are either the “gossiper” or are “engaging” with a gossip… indulging on those sweet morsels.

These sweet morsels then go deep into our hearts. Just like calories from the dessert put weight on us, these words of jealousy and hate put weight on our hearts. We start to view a person from our sinful worldly nature vs Gods love nature.

Many women don’t think of gossip as a sin, but think about this…gossip can lead to lies and also make us prideful. God detest lies & pride. What a fatal combo this can be for our faith walk.

We must make change, we must stop gossiping and engaging with a gossiper. We can make the change one woman at a time, but we must make an effort!

I confess…I repent very often for the sin of gossip. It is so easy to be with my bestie and just rip someone apart with ugly words. This is wrong. Many times I try to justify gossip…but making excuses for sin must stop.

I pray for strength every day to keep my mouth shut. I pray for a cleaned changed heart that puts God first. Through prayer, I go to God to vent and do my best to stop spreading ugly words with my friends.

How do we move toward change?

With your core group of friends we encourage you to do the following:

– Commit to stop gossiping.

– Gently calling each other out with love when gossip starts.

– Build up and find good in the person you started talking about.

– Be the light and love for your group.

– Seek God through prayer and His word.

Refuse the dessert and keep your heart light.