Topic: Choose to Bless, Not to Gossip [RICK WARREN Devotional 29 May 2021]
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Choose to Bless, Not to Gossip
“Love prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it separates close friends.”
Proverbs 17:9 (NLT)All of us have crazymakers in our lives. They’re the people who make us want to call our best friends, and say, “You won’t believe what they just did!”
Crazymakers make you want to spread the word about their craziness—to hear your friends say, “Wow, they are crazy!” That affirmation from your friends can make you feel good. But spreading the word is gossip—and it’s unloving.
The Bible says to forgive even your enemies. Proverbs 17:9 says, “Love prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it separates close friends” (NLT).
What is gossip? It’s sharing information with somebody who is not part of the problem or the solution. Gossip, in its essence, is a form of retaliation. You talk about someone behind their back rather than going to that person directly.
In the short term, gossip may make you feel better—but it actually lets the crazymaker win. It allows that person to control your conversations and emotions. Suddenly you’re spending your time talking about the crazymaker instead of all the positive things in your life. When you choose to gossip, the crazymaker wins.
Gossip is incredibly destructive too. It destroys churches, families, and businesses. It separates close friends. It can even destroy your life.
But you don’t have to let it. You have the choice not to gossip—and to instead repay the wrong done to you with a blessing.
The Bible says in 1 Peter 3:9, “Do not do wrong to repay a wrong, and do not insult to repay an insult. But repay with a blessing, because you yourselves were called to do this so that you might receive a blessing” (NCV).
You can gossip and miss out on God’s blessing.
Or you can choose to have positive conversations and use words that lift others up. In doing so, you will receive God’s blessing on your life.
- When are you most tempted to gossip? How can you avoid giving in to that temptation in the future?
- What negative results of gossip have you seen in your life?
- When was a time when you chose to be a blessing instead of to gossip? What were the results?