The Goal Is Not Silence but Grace “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”Ephesians 4:29 (ESV) When we talk about toxic speech, it is easy to focus...
Gossip Needs an Audience “For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases.”Proverbs 26:20 (ESV) Most teaching about gossip focuses on the person who speaks. Scripture also challenges the person who listens. A fire cannot continue...
Just Because It Is True Does Not Mean It Is Yours to Tell “The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body.”Proverbs 18:8 (ESV) Many people define gossip as saying something false about another person. That can...
Three Questions to Ask Before You Get Offended Somebody is going to do something today that offends you. Maybe they already have. Before you decide what to do about it, here are three questions worth asking first. 1. What actually happened, versus what am I assuming...
The Hook Beneath the Bait: A Practical Framework for Handling Offense Every hook has bait wrapped around it. The bait of offense offers you something tempting: the satisfaction of being right, the sympathy of people who take your side, the quiet power of withholding...
Why I Quit Talk Radio (And What It Taught Me About Offense) I used to listen to talk radio every time I got in the car. Didn’t matter which station, they were all doing the same thing: making me angry at people I’d never met, over things that had nothing...
