Dainty Morsels
Don’t you just love a good, juicy piece of gossip? Don’t you love to get the latest "scoop" on things? Oh, I know we shouldn’t, and we would seldom admit that we do, but sometimes we just can’t help it—there seems to be something in human nature that perks up at the words, "Hey, have you heard about...?" This tendency is reflected in both our personal lives, as well as our culture’s fascination with celebrity gossip, and the headlines that seem to relish in the breakups and demise of our "stars."

And that’s so unfortunate, because gossip in all of its forms is a deadly thing. Proverbs 26:22 states that, "The words of a whisperer are like dainty morsels, and they go down to the innermost parts of the body." As enticing as the latest piece of news might be, whispered words are almost always damaging and deadly. When we are involved in whispering—whether we are receiving or passing on the whispered scoop—the words inevitably travel deep into our hearts and put down roots there, affecting our beliefs about the object of our whispering.
As true followers of Christ, let’s make no room for these "dainty morsels" in our diet. Let’s be more noble, honorable, and trustworthy than that. Let’s pray for speech that is "always with grace, seasoned with salt," so that we "know how to answer everyone" (Colossians 4:6).