Don't Repeat This

I had never met the fellow in person. He called me on the phone about a
matter
of which I frankly knew nothing, yet he didn't hesitate to fill me in on
details
that were of no concern to me. Some of the details had been told to him by
someone else. As he relayed them to me he said, "Now this is secondhand
information, so don't repeat it."

Don't repeat it?! I wondered silently why he had not followed that maxim
himself. In the first place, the issue about which he called didn't concern
me.
But even if it had, I didn't need to hear the salacious details he had
passed
along to me. In my book such conversation is called "gossip".

I couldn't help thinking of the skit on the old "Hee Haw" television
program.
Four women are pictured doing their laundry outdoors, one at a scrub board,
another hanging up clothes, etc. They're singing a ditty that has stuck
with me
ever since: "We're not ones to go around repeating gossip - so you'd better
be
sure and listen close the first time."

We laugh about such things - unless the subject of the gossip is ourselves
or
ones that we love. Then we see it for what it is: Character assassination.

Bright minds have spoken out on this topic. Mark Twain, for example, said
this:
"He gossips habitually; he lacks the common wisdom to keep still that deadly
enemy of man, his own tongue." Richard Steele observed, "Fire and swords
are
slow engines of destruction, compared to the tongue of a gossip."

The Bible, not surprisingly, has warnings against this kind of activity.
"Where
there is no wood, the fire goes out; and where there is no talebearer,
strife
ceases" (Proverbs 26:20). Those who speak of things they shouldn't may be
contributing to the downfall of an innocent person.

Jesus was the target of talebearers. It is true that he often associated
with
known sinners - His purpose in coming to earth was to bring them to
repentance
(Luke 5:31,32). But was Jesus guilty of the talk that was going around
about
Him? "The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, 'Look, a
glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'" (Luke
7:34).
Some of that observation is true; He was a friend of sinners. But the
intended
message was that Jesus had become just like those with whom He associated,
and
that was absolutely not true.

Here's another sample of Biblical wisdom: "He who covers a transgression
seeks
love, but he who repeats a matter separates friends" (Proverbs 17:9). The
facts
you're speaking to me about another may be true. But why are you telling
me?
Is there something I can do to make things better? Idle talk does no good;
it
only satisfies (for a time) the appetite of those who love to hear of
scandal.

The most sobering words come from the One who will one day judge us: "But I
say
to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it
in
the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your
words
you will be condemned" (Matthew 12:36,37).

Our children sometimes sing, "Oh, be careful little lips what you say."
That's
good advice.

Timothy D. Hall