Now listen to me, you that say, "Today or tomorrow we will travel to a certain city, where we will stay a year and go into business and make a lot of money." You don’t even know what your life tomorrow will be! You are like a puff of smoke, which appears for a moment and then disappears. What you should say is this: "If the Lord is willing, we will live and do this or that." But now you are proud, and you boast; all such boasting is wrong.

So then, the person who does not do the good he knows he should do is guilty of sin.

James 4:11-17

You should not speak evil of one another. If you can’t say something helpful, don’t say anything at all. Breathe a prayer for the person being talked about, as well as for the one who is spreading gossip. Don’t spread gossip, but dispose of it by silence. Gossip soon dies if it is not repeated. Today you will find plenty of garbage. You can collect it, scatter it, or dispose of it. Ask God to help you do what pleases Him and is helpful to others.

Do your part to silence gossip – don’t repeat it.

Our Daily Bread – April 5, 2003