GOSSIPS AND BACKBITERS BEWARE

We recently had two family pets in our household. Molly who is our beloved and faithful German Shepherd, and has the affectionate soul of a saint and a cat who we had renamed Snipes because of the condition of his heart. He was known by all who knew him as a predator and hot shot backbiter! For reasons known only to him, he would wait until you were just about to reach out and pet him and he would pounce on you with an evil vengeance unlike anything you have ever seen. Our precious Molly had to endure bites and attacks every day from that cat. I dared not let my grandsons be outside, without me to defend them whenever they were over and the cat was around. For without warning, and unprovoked, he would simply jump on them for no reason to try and bite them.

Like all seasoned backbiters, Snipes was very calm and collected. He was so sweet to look at. Yet the closer you got to him and the more you engaged him, the more pain he would inflict upon you. If Snipes could talk today, I feel sure that he would tell you that he regrets being that way. His mean and backbiting nature cost him his life over the long haul. While we mostly ignored him, because we got tired of the attacks in trying to befriend him, our neighborhood cats were not so tolerant  and willing to ignore him. He was constantly fighting other cats and because of that, he ended up with Feline Leukemia and has just recently died. By the time we had gotten the cat, he was already grown and had never had shots. Unfortunately we only had him for a short time and while we were sad that he died before we could do anything about it, I must tell you that we do not miss dodging that cat every time we go outside.

Like Snipes there are some people with that same mean nature. Whenever you see them coming you just try and dodge them. Because you know what they are capable of once they open their mouths.  While they may be enjoying whatever pleasure they receive by pouncing on other’s feelings and lives, with their slandours backbiting, malice and gossip, in the end they will end up being bitten themselves by the whirlwind of wrong, vindictive and mean choices that they have inflicted on others.

When someone backbites or gossips, others may listen, but they will never trust the one who is dishing out the information that could, in the long run, cause great pain in someone else’s life. When that person hurts others by gossip or innuendo, they are saying much more about their own character than the one who they are hurting. Not all backbiters bite to draw blood. Some like to simply sit around and nibble on gossip at the expense of others. They do not mean to cause harm; in their mind, they just find the information that they are sharing important enough, that it simply needs to be shared. Never considering the impact it may have in turning the opinions of the one that they are sharing it with, to dislike or disrespect the one being talked about.

James 4:12 says, “…what right do you have to condemn your neighbor?”  In all honesty, I have never met a person that has not engaged in some type of gossip or backbiting at some point in their lives, including myself. Yet, for the most part, we that do not call ourselves gossips or backbiters, have often times said something... and in hindsight wished we would have never opened our mouths. We may call what we say or do, “well meaning” gossip. Yet the Bible tells us that ….those who "refuse" to slander others or harm their neighbors, or speak evil of their friends….such people will stand firm forever.” Ps 15:1-5. This should be what we strive for.

The Bile actually has a lot to say about gossip, slander, malice and backbiting, and the lessons that we can learn from scripture and start applying even today, is to stop it! Simply realize your responsibility, confess it and change your attitude about it. Realize that we all reap what we sow….and as God’s children we had better be about sowing kindness and compassion.  Like we had to do with Snipes, you may in love just need to avoid those people that get you caught up in their gossip, making sure that you yourselves are not the ones instigating the pain on others through your own desire to spread the news that you deem so important, that it just needs to be shared! Be aware, be very aware....it will always come back and the bite is very bitter!

Leviticus 19:16 – Do not go about spreading slander among your people. Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the Lord.  

1 Timothy 5:13 – Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things they ought not to.                                                                                                                                                           

Matthew 7:1 – Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 

Proverbs 18:8 – The words of gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man’s inmost parts.

Life is too short…let’s make the best of it!

Loving You today,

Bren