2 Thessalonians 3:11  For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies.

Socrates, the great Greek philosopher, was once stopped by an acquaintance as he passed through the markets. “I’ve something important to tell you,” he said. “It’s about your friend.”

“That’s very kind of you,” Socrates said. “But, don’t tell me just yet. I run all information through the Three Filters Test to ascertain if I want to know it.”

The man looked somewhat puzzled as Socrates continued, “First is the filter of truth. Whatever you want to tell me, have you seen or witnessed it first-hand?”

“Umm…I actually heard it from someone,” the man said, “and, it is from a trusted source.”

“Alright. But that does not pass my first test,” Socrates added, “since you don’t know whether it’s true.”

“Second is the filter of goodness. Is that a good statement you want to make about my friend?”

“Not really. That’s the reason I wanted—”

Socrates interjected, “So, you want to tell me something bad about someone but don’t know if it’s true.”

“The last is the filter of utility.” He continued, “Your statement about my friend, is that going to be useful to me?”

“Not really as such. I just wanted to share.”

“Well, if the information is not necessarily true, it is not good, and, it is of no use,” Socrates concluded, “please, I don’t want to know about it.”

(Source: Movemequotes.com)

If only we would all have that attitude. Unfortunately, we all gossip. I have heard it called “America’s favorite indoor sport.”  This includes both telling lies about your neighbor or telling the truth in order to hurt her/him. I always pointed this out to my confirmation students when going over the Eighth Commandment:

You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.  What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way. (Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation)

I wonder what would happen if the followers of Jesus were more focused on sharing the Gospel than they were on sharing Gossip.  You and I have the best news ever to share with the world. We can tell them about the love of God that resulted in the Word made Flesh who paid for their sins so that they could have the certainty of forgiveness and life everlasting. Put the energy that you would normally use to spread gossip into spreading the Gospel. Can you even imagine what the results would be if the name of Jesus was on our lips as readily as gossip usually is? I know that the Holy Spirit would use us as the mighty army for God that we are supposed to be, bringing more and more people the Good News of salvation.

Luckily, gossip is a sin. I say “luckily” because being a sin, Jesus paid the price for it, too, when he died on the cross. And since the price has been paid, we can receive forgiveness even for the sin of gossip. Realizing the forgiveness that you have for Christ’s sake, resolve to spread Gospel, not gossip.