A Prayer to Kill the Sin of Gossip in Your Life
By Michelle Lazurek
“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.” Ephesians 4:29
Can you pray for Jan? I heard she’s having some issues in her marriage. I think they are on the brink of divorce. In my sixteen years in ministry, I’ve had many women come to me and start off a conversation just like this one. Yet a conversation like this is nothing more than gossip, thinly veiled as a prayer request used as a way to share information about another member of church.
If I’m honest, it’s easier speaking about someone else’s life rather than my own. I even get a little joy out of hearing someone else’s problems. For a moment, it seems like my life is better than someone else’s. I can temporarily indulge in the spiritual high of knocking someone else off her pedestal in a pathetic attempt to keep me on my pedestal.
Perhaps, you, like me, have experienced the high of hearing about someone else’s problems. Have you thrived even a little bit on the idea that someone who on the outside is thinner, prettier, or better than you is crumbling on the inside?
God meant for words to have power. God used words when He spoke the world into being. Jesus used them to calm storms, heal the sick and rebuke the Pharisees. In the same way, our words can have a positive or negative effect on people, depending on which we choose to use.
Are your speaking words that heal, or words that hurt?
Let’s pray together now for the power we need to kill the sin of gossip:
Lord, thank you for your mercy and grace, even when we sin and gossip. Help me see this sin for what it is—hateful, hurtful, and ultimately sin that separates me from you. Lord, give me a greater affection for you. Help me love you so much that it spills over into everyone I meet. Help me love you so much that the temptation to gossip melts away in the midst of my thankfulness and joy. Help me long to build others up, not tear them down. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.
Editor’s Note: This devotional was adapted from How to Kill the Sin of Gossip in Your Life by Michelle Lazurek. You can read that piece in full here.
