As we study how to develop Christ-like communication skills based on the book of Proverbs let’s consider another destructive tendency to avoid: participating in gossip. Proverbs 18:8 explains why so many of us get drawn into gossip: “The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man’s inmost parts.”
Proverbs 17:9 explains, “He who covers over an offense promotes love,” but the temptation is to repeat details about the offence, and when this happens it often separates friends. 11:13 says, “A gossip betrays a confidence.” And 16:28 describes a perverse person’s effect on others – he “stirs up dissension, and a gossip separates close friends.” This destructive tendency catches us in a vortex that leads to destruction.
How can we deal with this very natural, enticing tendency in our communication? 20:19 explains that gossip is betraying a confidence, and this usually takes place when someone talks too much. So we are warned to “avoid a man who talks too much.”
Proverbs 26:20-21 illustrates this destructive dynamic vividly: “Without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies down. As charcoal to embers and as wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife.”
We’re responsible to stop gossip in its tracks or walk away from it, for gossip destroys healthy communication.
