I enjoy baking homemade chocolate chip cookies. My friends love for me to bake them too. Sometimes there’s nothing better than a fresh out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookie and a glass of cold milk.
The other day my friend celebrated his 50th birthday. We’ve been celebrating his birthday each day, all week, while we are on vacation. (I could get used to this idea.) After one of the birthday dinners at a restaurant in the Old Mill District in Bend, Oregon, the server didn’t bring out your typical one slice of birthday cake or ice-cream for just the birthday boy. Oh no, he transported out of tray of tall glasses full of cold milk and warm chocolate chip cookies for all sixteen of us! Yummy! That’s my kind of restaurant.
What would you think if you were expecting a cookie filled with chocolate morsels, but to your surprise there was only one morsel in the cookie? You would most likely look at it with disappointment. It reminds me of the potato chip slogan, “Betcha can’t eat just one”. No, when we want a chocolate chip cookie, just one morsel won’t do. Fill’er up please.
Sometimes gossip is the same way. Today in Proverbs 18:8 it says, “Rumors are dainty morsels that sink deep into one’s heart.”(NLT) or in the NIV it reads, “The words of a gossip are like choice morsels;
they go down to the inmost parts.” Gossip can be addicting.
Not only can it be addicting, but it is wrong. Here are a few verses to confirm how God is against gossiping:
Leviticus 19:16, “Don’t spread gossip and rumors. Don’t just stand by when your neighbor’s life is in danger. I am God.”
Proverbs 20:19, “A gossip goes around telling secrets, so don’t hang around with chatterers.”
James 3:5-6, “It is the same with our tongue. It is a small part of the body, but it can boast about doing great things. A big forest fire can be started with only a little flame. 6 The tongue is like a fire. It is a world of evil among the parts of our body. It spreads its evil through our whole body and starts a fire that influences all of life. It gets this fire from hell.”
Here are a few pointers:
· Be careful what you say.
· Stand up for others when someone is talking wrongly about them.
· Don’t associate yourself with rumor spreaders, or be one yourself.
· Gossip can not only affect the one who you are talking about, but yourself. You don’t want to be known as someone who is not trustworthy.
Now I’m not saying don’t eat that scrumptious morsel-filled cookie. Just don’t indulge in gossip that is like choice morsels that go down to the inmost parts. You might find some “weight” on you that will hold you back on a freeing life.
Blessings to you all!
July 20
