05.05.03 The 1st Practice for Avoiding Negative Gossip
1. Be Spiritually Healthy
Keeping yourself spiritually healthy will empower you to successfully resist getting dragged into negative-gossip conversations.
As a principle, I make a deliberate effort to mind my spiritual health. So, when it came to a colleague’s aspiration to involve me in the gossip against a church minister, the eyes of my understanding were enlightened (Ephesians 1:18) and I knew beyond any reasonable doubt that God did not want me to involve myself in confronting the sister and straightening her out. When you think about my decision more deeply, you will discover that God was right. The sister would have wondered where I got that maligning information from. Would I have been free to disclose my source especially since I knew that the gossipmonger preferred non-disclosure? The church had several pastors. Wouldn’t it have been better for my colleague to involve one of them instead?
In Nehemiah 1:4-11, we see Nehemiah focusing on his spiritual health before anything else. He knew that the success of the wall-rebuilding project depended on being right with God. That was why he asked for His forgiveness and favour at the very beginning. Notice that even thereafter, he had to stay pure by not involving himself in godless gossip however provocative Sanballat, Tobiah and their cohorts would get. On the other hand, Shemaiah’s spiritual health left a lot to be desired, given that he allowed Tobiah and his cohorts to bribe him to give false prophecies to Nehemiah (Nehemiah 6:1-17).
Reading Aaron’s narrative, the fact that a rumour drove him to make the golden calf as an idol for the Israelites leaves me wondering just how strong his spiritual health was, at that particular moment. It is important to note that although the crowds had asked for a god, the golden calf was Aaron’s idea. Writers suggest that he must have got his inspiration from Egypt, where the Egyptians used to worship a god of fertility, Apis, who was in the form of a bull. We later come to learn, by the way, in Ezekiel 20:5-10, that God abhorred the practices and customs of Egyptians.
Looking at JuaLink, a vibrant spiritual lifestyle would have gone a long way in eradicating Lulu’s gossiping behaviour and saving the Agency’s business in the process. Undoubtedly, had she invested in building her spiritual health, resisting participating in negative gossip would have been a ‘walk-over’. In comparison, spiritual health must have been what kept Sarah gossip-free despite being surrounded by a pool of gossip-ridden prayer partners. She (Sarah) was definitely allocating enough quality time to pray and interact with God.
Reading and adhering to God’s word is at the core of living a ‘negative-gossip free’ life. So, how much time do you allocate to reading the Word? Have you allowed it to transform you by doing as it says (Romans 12:2)? Do you meditate about it as you read or do you just rush through as though it were a newspaper (Joshua 1:7-8)? The more scripture that you retain, the spiritually healthier you will become. That is what the Psalmist meant when he said in Psalm 119:11 that (NKJV): 11Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.
In addition, your prayer life is instrumental in keeping you away from the gossiping habit. How much time do you allocate to prayer? How often do you pray (1 Thessalonians 5:17)? Is prayer your lifestyle or just a box that has to be ticked and pushed out of the way?