Resisting GossipSample

Resistance Is Not Futile

Proverbs 18:8 and 26:22 offer only a warning: “Beware of gossip.” They do not tell us how to resist those choice morsels—just that we need to. But now that we have a biblically informed definition to use when we attempt to recognize gossip, we can begin to think more clearly about gospel strategies for resisting gossip. Some of those strategies include:

• Bearing good news
• Being up front, and loving those we talk about and talk to
• Having a changed heart that loves God and loves people (Ezek. 36:26, Matt. 22:37-39)

When I was a teen, I was a big fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The greatest enemy of the crew of the Starship Enterprise during that particular incarnation of the Star Trek series was a species of aliens called the Borg. When the Borg came to town, their favorite phrase was, “Resistance is futile! You will be assimilated.”

I know that’s how gossip often makes me feel—that we must conform to the world’s gossipy pattern. It is not true. Jesus Christ died to set us free from sin. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness” (1 Pet. 2:24). Resistance is not futile. Doesn’t the Bible insist that we are to “resist the devil, and he will flee” (James 4:7)? The Lord Jesus empowers us to die to sins and to live for righteousness.