Exercise Your Tongue To Health

Sshhhh…don’t tell anyone but did you know that…or I’m only going to tell you so don’t tell anyone…it goes on and on the sin of Gossip. We exercise our bodies, pursue personal development but what about seeking a healthy tongue? Using our tongues to gossip about others is unhealthy and negative whereas when we use our tongues to speak well of people it is healthy.

But what is gossip? Oxford Dictionary defines it as being ‘casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as being true’. Cambridge interprets it to mean ‘conversation or reports about other people’s private lives that might be unkind, disapproving, or not true’.¹ The bible says in Proverbs 11:13 ‘A gossip betrays confidence, but a trustworthy person keeps a secret’. Leviticus 19:16 also says ‘You must not go about spreading slander among your people. You must not endanger the life of your neighbor..’¹

Psychology Today states ‘…When we gossip, we are fertilizing our minds with toxicity and judgment…’³  We can see that gossip is definitely not healthy, running our mouths off about other people and their lives is destructive to their well being. Many tabloid newspapers are renowned for destroying peoples lives through print gossip, while friendships are continually ruined through this very same thing. One thing to also note, we risk ruining our very own lives when we indulge in such negative behaviour, we become untrustworthy which often leads to losing valuable relationships, or being kept at arm’s length.

So now we’ve identified what gossip is, how do we kick it out of our lives? We all experience disappointment of some type every single day, whether it be from loved ones, our work, relationships etc but how we handle our tongue in those times is of crucial importance. Philippians 4:8 provides the solution to kicking gossip out of our lives, this scripture states “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things”.

I challenge you to do a self test and ask: Is what I’m about to share true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy…Am I going to betray confidence or am I going about as a talebearer? When we scrutinize ourselves in such a manner we’re immediately nourishing our minds with love which is then evidenced by what we say about others. If we don’t we’re allowing ourselves to be filled with toxic emotions and judgement which often leads to gossip.

Yes, we have every right to be angry about offensive behaviour and there’s a way to deal with that which I’ll discuss in next week’s article, for now let’s us all commit to exercising our tongues to health by speaking well about others, Proverbs 3:8 tells us what the benefits are of doing “it will be It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones”.

Until next time, remember you are beautiful and wonderfully made – With love Amanda x          

Amanda Alexander – Founder of Elect Lady Ministries, Female Dignity & Amanda Alexander Productions

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¹GOSSIP | meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary

² Leviticus 19:16 You must not go about spreading slander among your people. You must not endanger the life of your neighbor. I am the LORD. (biblehub.com)

³The Toxicity of Gossip | Psychology Today