We, as believers, must watch our tongues. We read in Proverbs 18:21: The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. While you're reading on, keep this passage in mind, and when you speak, also keep it in mind.
When we converse with friends, what topics do we discuss? Are the topics science, art, or the like? In my experience, the conversations are often about other people, aren't they?
When people talk about other people, do they praise their good qualities? In my experience, however, this is not the case. They often gossip, don't they?
We read in James 3: 9 & 10: With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.
How do we curse human beings? When we talk negatively about them, we permit evil forces to harm them. How do we do that? I once asked the Lord how fortune-telling works, because Satan is not all-knowing, and the Lord won't involve Himself with it. He told me that the fortune teller can tell the client anything, whether good or bad, and if the client believes it, Satan has the mandate to make it manifest.
The same principle applies to gossip or talking about others. If we say negative things about people, we give Satan the mandate to harm the person we're talking about. We, therefore, curse them. The Greek word used for curse in this context means speaking doom over them. If we speak good things about a person, on the other hand, we give the Lord the mandate to affect them positively, and we therefore bless them.
The above was the spiritual side of it.
What is the realistic and practical outcome of gossip? When someone tells you something about someone you've never met, what happens? You already know something about the person, don't you, even though you've never met them? If you then see the person, without being introduced to them yet, what do you think of them? Isn't it what you've heard of them? Do you think that this knowledge will affect your opinion of them? Do you think that it might affect your relationship with them? Gossip is evil - both speaking it and listening to it.
James used the following comparison in James 3:5 to 6: Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
Have you ever seen a forest fire? We experienced several wildfires while we lived in a town in the mountains. They are not easily stopped. They keep on running relentlessly, devouring everything in their way. James compared gossip to such a fire.
A pastor once called in a member of his congregation who gossiped about him and gave them some bird feathers, asking them to place the feathers in several strategic places in town. When the person returned after having completed the task, the pastor asked them to collect the feathers again. The person exclaimed that the wind would have blown all the feathers away by then. "Precisely," the pastor said, "so it is with gossip, you cannot stop the words from spreading and can never get them back."
To be continued
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