CHRIST MINDED: GOSSIP!!

They visit me as if they were my friends, but all the while they gather gossip, and when they leave, they spread it everywhere. All who hate me whisper about me, imagining the worst.  Psalms 41:6-7

Why is it that we all seem to have a need to gossip about everybody? We see it all the time whether it be at work or with family, or just a social gathering. The more I see it, it usually makes me laugh because most of the time the person who is doing the gossiping is just making themselves  look idiotic. Why gossip? To make yourself look better? To make yourself feel better? I think the main reason is that we are so used to tearing people down to make ourselves look and feel better about the situation that when we finally turn our hearts towards God we almost subconsciously gossip about people. The gossip that I hear sometimes is so out of the ball park of what I already know about the person that I usually just want to say, "what!? that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard!", but most of the time I usually leave the group or do what I do best and make myself completely zone out so I don't hear it. I believe it is better to walk away from the gossip than to be subject to it.

Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people - Socrates

Are we still in high school? I am by no means perfect and ill admit that I do catch myself gossiping at times, but I also try to catch myself whenever I start so I can stop. I bring up high school because that's honestly all I think about when I hear gossip. I think it is time for us all to grow up and move on from gossip. My non-christian friends are usually the only ones that aren't gossiping whenever we hang out and its awesome that they don't, but its also sad knowing that Christians have the hardest time not gossiping. Me and my friends have better stuff to talk about, we make videos, we tell jokes, usually we get so caught up in doing something completely random that we just get indulged in what we are doing. The point is is that we STAY BUSY. We don't sit and wonder what someone else is doing. In my opinion if you have time to sit and talk about other people then you need to find a hobby, be creative, you have a mind, use it to its fullest extent. A better idea would be if you catch yourself gossiping, go to a different room and start praying, start reading your Bible, get your mind off the person that you are having negative thoughts about, and remember, an idle mind is the devils workshop, so keep your mind going with creativity and your own ideas.