The Devil Loves to Divide Through Gossip

Devils love to divide people through false doctrine and false beliefs, even false testimonies about others.

Just as in the garden with Eve the devil convinced her to disrespect and disregard God. When he was through with her she not only distrusted God but she also dismissed His wisdom and defied Him.

Believing gossip about others without having seen the events ourselves is proof of a desire to believe the evil testimony, merely to elevate self.

It is one thing to recount to a close friend something that happened to you personally and quiet another to repeat what someone else "thinks" might have happened.

I see this all the time, people who make guesses about someone based on their desired beliefs about them without concrete evidence against them.

Those who have no desire to have a conversation with the target of gossip are demonstrating their own jealousy and desire to believe anything that makes the target look bad.

2 Corinthians 12:20 "20 For I am afraid that perhaps when I come I may find you to be not what I wish and may be found by you to be not what you wish; that perhaps there will be strife, jealousy, angry tempers, disputes, slanders, gossip, arrogance, disturbances;"

It is easy to discern jealousy when there is anger over "secrets" that no one attempts to clear up or understand the target.

Ephesians 4:29 "29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."

Those who are regularly thinking up reasons to be angry at people they know very little about but think they do, are operating from jealousy and a murderous heart to destroy that person.

Matthew 5:21-45

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. "

God calls hatred murder and jealousy is hatred. When we love someone we are not jealous of them we delight in the good and the accomplishments that happen in their lives.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 "4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

Those who love their secrets about others and spread them like wildfire do not love Christ or anyone else. Their own self-exaltation is all they care about, they are not worthy to be anyone's friend. However, anyone who is in bondage to and convicted of gossiping can be delivered by repenting, asking God to forgive them and change their heart so that they can become born again and lose the desire to elevate themselves above others.

What a blessing it is for born-again believers who have no desire to be above or better than others. Our worth and confidence is in Christ Who lives in us, not in ourselves.

1 Corinthians 13:11-13 "11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.

12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love."