why? why? why?..

james 4.11(msg) says, don’t bad-mouth each other, friends. (niv) says, do not slander one another.   i’m sure you wouldn’t do that but some do because it appeals to their pride.

proverbs 26:22 (cev) says, there is nothing so delicious as the taste of gossip! it melts in your mouth.

now why is that?  usually when somebody is gossiping, we are all ears!  we just can’t wait to hear what’s being said.  why?

it is because there is an innate ability of gossip or slander to capture our curiosity.  this is the sin, the sin of judging other people, that the bible says you’ll have to deal with more in your CHRISTian life than almost any other sin.  it’s a self-righteous attitude of putting people down, being critical, being judgmental.  JESUS condemned it more than almost any other sin. 

now there are many different kinds of slander.

there’s slander in the first degree – “do you know what that guy’s doing?” – a statement of judgment on them. 

CHRISTians like slander in the second degree – “i’m sharing this with you so you can pray about it with me.”  when we hear about how other people have fallen, there’s something inside, a little bit of pride … “that goes to show you..” 

the bible teaches that we often tend to judge other people because we think it’s going to put us in a better position but whenever you point a finger at somebody, you’re pointing three fingers back at yourself.  the bible says what we sow, we’re going to reap.

the bible says, we tend to judge others first to excuse our own errors and then also we have the natural ability to eat it up because it appeals to our pride, it makes us feel good, it gives us an ego blast.

just a thought from the front porch…