Walk with Him Wednesday- Gossip

God has been pulling parts of me out and throwing them away, these parts that do no good, the parts that dont glorify Him, I mean isn't that why we are here, to walk like Him?

Do you think He gets up and walks away when we start to gossip?

Do you think He plugs His ears and goes "la la la la la!" Like a school kid trying not to hear the things being said.

Do you think maybe He just sits there and cries saying "How can you say such things about someone?  Are you no better?!" 

These things have been pressed on my heart for the past two months. I have witnessed these things happen in my home, at my places of employment, on online forums with secret forums for gossip attached (more than once sadly).  I have seen this happen at previous churches, I have heard it over emails, phones, face to face, in cars, at the park, in the library etc.  Now wait... I may sound a bit hipocritical, I have gossiped, even still I catch myself enticed by those conversations. God is very good at trying to make me notice what Ive done, I try quick to change it, or ignore or to say nice things about the person being talked about.  There is good in everyone...I think it would be benneficial if everyone focused on the good of all.  It is a daily struggle I'll admit.  I go many days without getting  involved, but every once and a while, a slip up occurs that Christ convicts me of imediatley.  He's so good in keeping us in check when we are close to Him. 

Gossip kills.  Plain and simple. 

Romans 1:29-30-They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,  slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;

When I know someone loves to gossip, I dont share things with them, plain and simple.  When I hear people gossip and I have to leave, I wonder "what are they saying about me now?"  If they are able to gossip about family and friends when they arent around, do they talk about me when Im not around?? 

Proverbs 20:19 (The Message) -  Gossips cant keep secrets, so never confide in blabbermouths.

Lord, I pray as I continue this walk with You, that as I am in these situations that You pull me aside and say, "stop, be quiet, of few words, this isn't right." 

I want to walk like Christ did, and its a daily struggle against the ways I used to follow, against what is considered "normal". Gossip, as you can see in the above photo I selected is considered okay, its "networking" for many.  Its what drives our society more and more into pride and bullying among other sins. But with His strength, each one of these things that are negative that He prunes from us, we grow in Christ.  And thats beautiful!

 I encourage you this week to pray to Christ to work in your life in such a way that He would prune even just one thing from your life that is holding you back from a marvellous relationship with Him.  I pray that He will continue to prune these things from me, that I would always seek His strength and wisdom above all others, and that He would show me the area's that I need some of His "miracle grow" :)