Myth 7: Forgiveness Means You Can Gossip
Do you know what she said to me today? We need to pray for her! Instead of talking directly to people and engaging in conflict, we talk about people by masking our gossip as a prayer request. But gossiping is wrong, just like the original offense. Jesus gives us a protocol in Matthew 18: 15-17 on addressing sin in others: “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses’. If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to even listen to the church, treat then as you would a pagan or a tax collector.”
Gossiping is not included in that list. Don’t allow your words to sow seeds of dissension.
Biblical forgiveness: The best piece of advice I ever heard about forgiveness is: you know you have forgiven someone when you stop talking about the offense in a negative light.