– Excerpt from Louis Armstrong & Bing Crosby’s “Gone Fishin”

When I read these lyrics for the first time, it painted a picture in my mind of an unfruitful Christian. The story applies to all of us on occasion: we should be hoeing, but we’re out fishing instead…”we aint got no ambition”! This could vaguely apply to so many areas of our lives, but let us consider how it ties in to the sin of gossip.

Too often we are in a situation where, given the opportunity to bless with our mouth, we choose rather to use our words for cursing; for slandering; for gossiping! Gossip is a sin frequently looked over, because on the surface it seems somewhat harmless. Let me put this quite plainly. Gossip is NEVER harmless. Gossip always hurts the person gossiping, the person being gossiped about, and more often than not, both parties.
What exactly is gossip? Gossip is relaying one person’s personal business to another without their consent. Gossip typically – though not always – puts the first person in a bad light.

“Gossip is putting two and two together and making it five” – Ivan Panin

Gossip may be true, partially true, or completely untrue, but the fact of the matter remains: gossiping has no part in the life of the Christian. Gossip hurts.
—————————————————————————-

Gossip hurts ME

– It has been said that “What Susie says of Sally says more of Susie than of Sally”, and in most cases, I believe this statement to be quite true. When we speak, we are opening a door for others to see right into our hearts. Proverbs 10:11 states that “The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life”. Let us ask ourselves honestly: Can words of gossip be a well of life? If the answer is no, then how can we continue in this sin, claiming the name of Christ “in whom there is no unrighteousness”? (Ps. 92:15, Rom. 9:14) 

He that utters a slander is a fool. (Proverbs 10:18b)

A talebearer revealeth secrets: but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter. (Proverbs 11:13 )

—————————————————————————

Gossip hurts OTHERS

– Leviticus 19:16 says: Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour; I am the Lord.

Do you notice how talebearing (gossiping, slandering) is lumped together with “standing against the blood of thy neighbor”? This verse illustrates perfectly how detrimental gossip really is. When we speak ill against our neighbor, it is one and the same as if we had killed him. Consider the “murder” caused by unsavory speech: Gossip can put a damper on friendships and marriages, it can divide churches – ultimately gossip KILLS reputations and burns everyone in it’s path.

An ungodly man diggeth up evil: and in his lips there is as a burning fire. A froward man soweth strife: and a whisperer separateth chief friends. (Proverbs 16:27-28)

He that goeth about as a talebearer revealeth secrets: therefore meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips. (Proverbs 20:19)

How great a matter a little fire kindleth! (James 3:5b)

Remember: whether gossip is true or not matters little in the sight of our holy God…It is a shame even to speak of those things done in secret (Ephesians 5:12)
—————————————————————————-

Gossip hurts THE CHURCH

Where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth. (Proverbs 26:20)

1 Thessalonians 4:11 “…study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; 12 That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.”

– Gossip puts a bad light on Christ’s church. If the world hears us speaking evil against our neighbors, do you think they want to become a part of us? How can people see the love of Christ in us if we act just as dysfunctional as those who are lost? My mother-in-law is known to say that “If we can’t get along here on earth, how do you think we’ll get along in heaven?” – and it is so true! If we don’t have LOVE for one another we are nothing (1 Cor. 13:2), and gossip is certainly not loving! In fact, love as described in 1 Corinthians 13 is partially defined as “thinking no evil” and “rejoicing not in iniquity, but rejoicing in the truth!” (v 5b-6) A far cry from everything that gossip is…

– Gossip keeps us from doing the work of the church:

2 Thessalonians 11 For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.

1 Timothy 5:13 And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.

If we are spending our time focusing on and talking about the faults of others, we have far too much time on our hands….time that should be being used to further God’s kingdom! Gossip only serves to further Satan’s purposes, and does nothing but harm to ours.
—————————————————————————-

Conclusion:

A good rule of thumb is that if we are not part of the solution to the problem, it is best to keep silent. Always run any hint of gossip through these filters: What is my goal in sharing this? Is my involvement in this situation needed, or am I meddling in things that are no concern of mine? Talking just for the sake of talking is idle speech. An old saying applies: “idle hands are the devil’s workshop”. Every time we gossip, we open up the door for many more sins to enter our hearts and minds.

Proverbs 18:7 A fool’s mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul. 8 The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.

Ladies, let us not be likened unto the foolish man, but let our speech always be seasoned with salt, that it might minister grace unto the hearers!

God bless, and take a chill pill!
Mrs. Dustin Bolks

“Scorpions live on insects, but they kill and devour their own species as well. One experimenter placed a hundred of these arachnids in a large glass vessel, and after a few days only fourteen remained. The rest had been killed and eaten by the others.He put a pregnant female in a glass vessel and observed her as she devoured her young as fast as they were born. One escaped, taking refuge on the mother’s back, and found revenge by killing the mother scorpion in turn.

If cornered with no possible escape a scorpion will sting itself to death with that flexible stinger on the back end of its body.

I’m ashamed to say I have met scorpion Christians during my ministry.”

(Quote by Ron C. Carlson)

—————————————————————————-
Bitter. Jealous. Resentful. Vindictive. Scornful. Unkind. Unloving. Hostile.                                                    Venomous.

These are all synonyms of one cute little word: Catty.
Maybe you’ve never asked yourself if you are a catty female, but let’s be honest – all of us girls have at least a bit of cat-like ferocity inside. In fact, if we are to be completely real with ourselves, we might realize that we tend to take pleasure in slighting and spurning others if we are “in a mood”. Well, cattiness is quite adorable and befitting of the Virtuous Woman, right??

—————————————————————————-
One of the defining characteristics of the catty woman (or ferocious feline) is maliciousness. Malice can be defined as a wrongful intention, spite, revenge, or ill-will toward others. A malicious person will say or do anything they feel, with no concern as to how it might hurt someone else. They will prove themselves to be cruel with their words and actions. Maliciousness can show it’s ugly face in many forms.

Maybe you’re the unmerciful customer yelling at a waiter because your hamburger doesn’t have enough mayo. Maybe you’re the hostile driver honking because the guy in front of you waited 3 seconds to go on green. Maybe you’re  the jealous wife snooping through your husband’s stuff because you just know he can’t be trusted. We hardly recognize these things as being ungodly in comparison to the “big, bad, ugly sins”…but if LOVE is the greatest commandment, are we not sinning by showing these day-to-day displays of malice?

In Romans 1, a few of the words to describe those with a reprobate mind include malicious, full of envy, without understanding, without natural affection, unmerciful…v. 32 says that those who do these things are worthy of death! Also read Galatians 5:19-21: “Now the works of the flesh are manifest…hatred…wrath, strife…envyings…they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” My friends, this is not to be taken lightly.

—————————————————————————-
Perhaps you struggle with a barbed tongue; or maybe you are one who always loves to have the last word. I have often heard women boast “You should have seen the look on his/her face. I sure told them off!”. God regards this attitude as very foolish and wicked.

Read James 3:14-16 with me:

“But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.”
—————————————————————————-

Scripture warns us that we have not become mature christians if we continue to walk in envy and strife!

1 Corinthians 3:3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

Ladies, Let us walk honestly, as in the day….not in strife and envying. For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one.Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy? Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly. (Romans 13:13 , Job 5:2, Proverbs 27:4, Proverbs 3:34)

——————————————————————–

Consider what kind of women we could be if we exchanged our

debates                 for           gentleness?
envyings            for           peace?
wraths                   for           love?
strifes                    for           joy?
backbitings          for           meekness, temperance?
whisperings        for            goodness?
swellings              for            longsuffering?
tumults                 for            faith?

2 Cor. 12:20       for           Galatians 5:22-23?

Proverbs 20:22 Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the Lord, and He shall save thee.
—————————————————————————-

The world tells us we come first…God’s word says to put others first. (Philippians 2:3)
The world says let our voices be heard….God’s word says lowliness is wisdom.
(Proverbs 11:2)
The world says insult with a comeback….God’s word says not to avenge ourselves.
(Romans 12:19)
The world says “nice guys finish last”. Sisters, take heart – God’s word says that those who are last shall be FIRST!
(Mark 10:31)

Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. – Ephesians 4:31 

God bless, and take a chill pill!
Mrs. Dustin Bolks

Hey Chicas! Today I bring to you a subject that is very close to my heart…and that subject is the role of a Christian wife. While for thousands of years women have served their husbands with honor and submission, today we live in a time when being a christian help meet is considered inferior and primitive. Women’s rights activists demand “equality” of men and women in every way. “We can do anything a man can do….no one will rule over us!” is the feminist’s cry. Unfortunately, this line of thinking is grasped onto by so many…by people who do not understand what true equality really is. See, in a spiritual sense men and women are equal. Being a man or a woman does not win one special favor with God; our Lord pays no respect to gender when one becomes His child. What is misunderstood is that men and women have 100% equal value as a person, while having 100% different roles as a person!Very few would argue with these statements:A child must submit to a parent.
A student must submit to a teacher.
A civilian must submit to a police officer.
An employee must submit to an employer.

Now, in lieu of the examples mentioned, why then is it considered out of the question for a wife to submit to her husband? Does a parent have more value than a child; a teacher more value than a student, etc? Of course not! We recognize that the value is the same, but that a proper hierarchy needs to be in place for the particular relationship to function well.

Unlike what the feminists would have us believe, submitting to one’s husband is not oppressive or degrading. On the contrary, it can give security, peace and freedom! Above all, it is God’s plan for us. Even if we don’t fully understand His will, He truly does know best! We simply cannot choose to live in a way that we believe “suits us” better than God’s design. After all, how can the clay say to the potter “why have you made me this way”? (Rom 9:20)

Let us think on our Lord Jesus Christ. Did you ever consider that if He failed to submit to God the Father, we would have no propitiation for our sins?

Jesus says in John 6:38 “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.”

Has your husband ever asked you to be nailed to a cross for filthy, undeserving sinners? Perhaps your husband has denied something menial, such as a request to have a girls’ day out…but has he ever denied your request to live? If we were in Jesus’ place, could we say “not my will, but yours”? I think it is far more likely that we would say “nice try buddy, but I call the shots in my life”. This attitude stems from pride. We all think we can do better on our own, but God made each person in need of authority.

Jesus recognized that He and His Father shared equal value.
(John 10:30 I and my Father are one.)

He also recognized that He would be successful in this life only if He took on the submissive role to His Father.
(John 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.)

Our husbands are an earthly depiction of Jesus to us; we the picture of Christ’s bride. Jesus tells us in John 14:15 that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments. We also read in 1 John 5:3 that His commandments are not burdensome! We cannot say that we love our husbands and yet continue in disobedience….we will only be fooling ourselves.

Hebrews 13: 17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.

While this verse is typically used in reference to elders, are not our husbands also counted among “those that have the rule over us”? Scripture teaches us we are to honor, obey, revere, and submit to our husbands – and certainly they will have to give God a report on the behavior we have exhibited! What will our husbands say about us? Have we been peaceable, or difficult to live with? Have we delighted in our work, or have we grumbled? Have we humbly taken the passenger’s seat through life, or have we tried to take the wheel? These are all things that we are going to have to answer for. I don’t want to be known as the wife who had her husband on a ball and chain. I want my husband to say of me that I was a servant; that I was lovely, meek, humble, understanding and eager to please. I want my children to remember me as a wife and mother who always put her husband first.

I have heard many say that the New Testament put away dominance/submission in the marriage relationship. Friends, this could not be further from the truth! There are in fact many verses that illustrate God’s plan for a woman’s part in marriage. We are to submit to our husbands as it is fit in the Lord, (Colossians 3:18), as unto the Lord, (Ephesians 5:22) see that we reverence our husbands (Ephesians 5:23) be subject to our husbands as the church is to Christ, (Ephesians 5:24), be in subjection to our husbands even if they are not Christians, (1 Peter 3:1) obey our husbands as our Lord, (1 Peter 3:6) and love and obey our husbands! (Titus 2:4-5). We read in 1 Corinthians 11:3 that: “the head of every man is Christ, the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God.” Will we be so bold as to go against this natural order? If we fail to submit to our husbands, we have put away our natural function in God’s kingdom! (Deuteronomy 22: 5 The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God.) Spiritually speaking, to wear one’s garment is to take on one’s character. This is an abomination, girls….we MUST be women, and not men.

Some women try to argue that their husband in particular is not deserving of reverence. They claim that his unholy behavior, etc would deny him the right to be treated as a king. “When he straightens up his act, then and only then will I submit to him” is the attitude of many women I know, but submission is not a reward for good behavior! It is a gift we are obliged to give regardless of the recipient’s merit points. I know it is completely possible to submit to an undeserving husband, because I have seen it. I knew a dear woman who found herself in a very unfortunate life situation. Her husband was not measuring up to God’s standards, had no desire to cherish his wife, and was utterly in chaos mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. One might say that her husband deserved little to no respect, yet time and again I would see this woman yielding her own needs to his in the most selfless of ways. When she spoke of him it was without disrespect or contempt, but her speech was holy and chaste. By her humble honor of her husband, she has instilled in her children love for the unlovable, and shown all who know her how to “overcome evil with good”. (Romans 12:21)

Performing God’s will is not always an easy task. If it was easy, everybody and their brother would be a Christian. Being a godly wife is not for the faint of heart, but it does have immense rewards; if not always evident in this life, certainly in the world to come. If you have not been the submissive wife you should be, it is not too late to start! The best place to begin would be to talk with your husband about the truth God has revealed to you from His word. Pray together, and find ways that help him to be a better leader, and that help you to be the loving bride God created you to be. Your submission will be one crucial step towards a God-honoring marriage. May God be with you along this journey, and may you and your husband grow deeper in love as “heirs together of the grace of life”.

God bless, and take a chill pill!
Mrs. Dustin Bolks

Romans 13 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. 2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.

1 Peter 2:3 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; 14 Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.

1 Peter 2: 18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. 19 For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. 20 For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.