Proverbs 26:28: “A lying tongue hates those who are crushed by it, / And a flattering mouth works ruin.”

June 30th, 2024 by Pastor Ed in devotional

One dictionary definition of rumor is “a current story passing from one person to another, without any known authority for the truth of it.” A closely related word to rumor is gossip, “running from house to house, tattling and telling news.” This proverb deals with rumors and gossip, teaching that an evil tongue crushes and ruins those it talks about. And it is also self-defeating, as the very tongue speaking falsehoods is often crushed and hurt as well.

A young woman once repeated a nasty bit of gossip about a friend. The news traveled, and soon everyone knew the gossip. The friend was deeply hurt, not only by the untruths being said about her but also by her friend’s betrayal. The woman who first passed on the gossip was also wounded, wracked with guilt over the pain she had caused her friend. She approached her godly grandfather and asked what he thought she could do to set things right. “Buy a chicken, and have it killed. Then on your way home, pluck its feathers and drop them along the road. When you have done this, come and see me again.” The woman was perplexed by this advice but followed it anyway. The next day she returned to her grandfather. “Go and collect all the feathers you dropped yesterday and bring them to me,” he said to her. “But that’s impossible. They’ll have all blown away.” “Exactly,” replied her grandfather. “It’s easy to drop them, but it’s impossible to get them back. It’s the same with gossip. It doesn’t take much to spread a rumor, but once you do, you can never undo the hurt. But now that you understand that, perhaps you will be better able to ask your friend for forgiveness.”

Pastor Alan Redpath, during a stressful season in his ministry, called his fellowship to follow a simple formula in order to help everyone keep their mouths and tongues under control. Before anyone said or did anything, they were to think through this acronym:

T-H-I-N-K
T–is it true?
H–is it helpful?
I–is it inspiring?
N–is it necessary?
K–is it kind?

If their words did not meet these criteria, they were to keep their mouths shut. Try it; it works.

“LORD, please send Your Spirit to be a sieve to our mouths this day, to filter out all rumor and gossip so that we might speak the truth in love.”