Gossip: The Killer of Friendships (Proverbs 16:28)
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Proverbs 16:28
A dishonest man spreads strife,
and a whisperer separates close friends.
The past few days, and yesterday more specifically, we’ve looked at Proverbs that have shown the destructive capabilities of gossip. We’ve seen how it can create tension and cause conflict. And Proverbs 16:28 today goes a step further to show us that gossip doesn’t just create tension – it pulls even the closest of relationships apart. What a picture to show us just how powerful gossip is.
Proverbs 16:28 presents two types of malicious speakers. One type flips morality upside down and pits people against each other. The other slanders behind someone’s back and ends friendships. Both are dangerous.
Focusing our attention on the latter, is there no greater example of the power gossip has to destroy than what we are given here with close friends? Gossip is a deadly killer, y’all.
It can take away your nearest and dearest. This verse today reminds us gossip PULLS apart. We’ve seen and will continue to see how gossip pulls us apart from God, and of course again today we see that with relationships.
Think of someone you are incredibly close to. There’s a fondness there, a security there, a love there, that can all be uprooted and thrown away by the fangs of gossip. Gossip is powerful.
Remember Proverbs 18:21? ‘Death and life are in the power of the tongue’.
Our words can give life or take it, build up relationships or break them down.
This verse to me serves as a great warning. Don’t sleep on gossip. It shows itself innocent and attractive – as we’ve seen – but it’s powerful. POWER-full. Powerful. And it’ll destroy you.
Now, if gossip is this dangerous, how do we fight against it? Where’s hope? It’s in Jesus. Gossip may break relationships, but Jesus restores them – even our broken one with God. He is closer than a brother and a friend who will not separate from you, even in your worst moments of sin. That’s the hope we hold onto in looking to Him.
No reflection questions today. I just want to pray and thank God for His restoring of our relationship with Him, and to pray that He would help us through His Spirit to use our words to bring people together with love and not pull them apart with gossip or slander.
Let’s pray.
