Burning Gossip

>> Happy Sunday. I love this time of year. Thank God cooler weather is upon us. Some of us will sit around fire pits and just enjoy the moment.

We have a small fire pit in our backyard and I'm very careful to extinguish the fire when we come inside. I don't want to be the one responsible for the Great Atlanta fire. Today's verse from Proverbs is found in verse 20 of chapter 26. It says, "Fire goes out without wood and quarrels disappear when gossip stops.

Fire goes out without wood and quarrels disappear when gossip stops." >> >> Have you ever been the target of gossip? It can be devastating. In today's society with the advent of AI, we can see videos that look real that are absolutely fake.

People with the right skills can make a video showing Billy Graham robbing a bank or Dave Ramsey using a credit card. Political ads are often based on lies and half-truths. Not too long ago I read the story of a teenager who had killed himself because of an AI video that he was allegedly in. There was no truth to the video, yet the young man could not deal with the gossip.

It seems gossip is easier today than ever before. A life can be ruined, turned upside down by an evil person on a computer thousands of miles away. When Genie and I moved to Indiana years ago, there were a few people who heard that we were moving to India. Not Indiana, India.

Now, it wasn't malicious, however, it was not correct. Gossip can be done with bad intentions or with innocence, really. I've learned this over the years. If you're not part of problem or part of the solution, you should stay away from talking about that situation.

As a pastor in days gone by, people have come to me to tell me all sorts of things. And often I will ask, is this a fact or is this hearsay? Oftentimes it was just hearsay. And gossip is so very harmful.

It's the devil's microphone. In James 3:6, we read, "The tongue is a flame of fire. It is the whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire."

That's true. I read a story the other day from the 16th century, I believe. It seemed that a woman was guilty of gossip. And for her penance, her priest told her to take a feather pillow to the top of the church bell tower, rip it open, and scatter the feathers to the four winds.

The penance did not end there. Sh- After she let the feathers go, she was given a second and more difficult task. She was told to come down from the bell tower and collect all the feathers that had been dispersed throughout the town. The woman, of course, couldn't do it.

And that was the point. When we gossip, our words are scattered abroad and they can never be gathered back. They continue to spread division and and just hatred in people's minds for days, months, and even years after we have spoken them. Billy Graham said, "A real Christian is a person who can give his pet parrot to the town gossip."

I like that. If gossip is a problem in your life, you know you need to stop. And if it's not a problem, make sure that you use your words to build up and to encourage. Fire goes out without wood, and quarrels disappear when gossip stops.

Pray with me. Lord, help us to use our words for good, for positive reasons, and never for bad. Help stories to stop with us. Help us if we get a juicy tidbit to just let it go.

Father, thank you for your love for us. Let us have that love for all others, and it'll be shown in the way we speak. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

God bless. Have a wonderful week.