I don't wanna hear it!

Years back I lived with a sister whom for the purpose of this writing I will refer to as Sister Files and Data. I gave her this name because she seemed to know everyone’s secret. I mean she had classified information about every one that meant anything in DC. If she had no info about you it was simply because you had never appeared in her line of vision.

I was in awe of her ability to scrap out dirt from even the holiest of saints. She was a live Google search engine and all you needed to do was just type in a name .She spared no one. Not Pastors, not their wives not church workers, nor anyone that appeared zealous for the Lord.

Everyday as soon as I came back from work she would start giving me hot and juicy gist about this person or that person. I knew I didn’t need all that information but somehow I gave myself the excuse that It would be rude to walk out on her or rebuke her since she was older than me both in ministry and in age. So I listened, I never said a word apart from the occasional ‘chei! Hei! and ‘blood of Jesus’ but in the sight of God my participation was complete. I was just as guilty, an Accessory After the Fact. I was just as guilty as a man who receives stolen goods. I ignored the promptings and warnings from the Holy Spirit and as a result I developed an itching ear always longing for the latest gist.

One day my pastor came back from a long trip and decided to take some of his workers out to ‘The Palms’ in Lagos and while we were eating someone commented that he just saw a church staff pass by with a guy who wasn’t her fiancé. Instantly like a live jack in the box I was on my feet stretching my neck to see for my self (typical busy body behavior). Of course I got the wiring of my life from my pastor that day accompanied with the most disgusted look I had ever seen on anybody’s face. It was obvious I was now hooked on gossip.

Having classified info about people has a way of making justify your current situation in life and feel like ‘wow I’m not the one with the most checkered past’ and. little did I know that I was racing down the hill of destruction in a go-cart without any form of protection.

Of course the outcome was disastrous. By the time everything was over I was seriously considering backsliding or leaving the ministry. As I’m sure you can predict, Sister Files and Data did to me exactly what she did to others (she who sins with you must surely sin against you). It was then that I realized that the hotness and the juiciness of the gist was because she used so much spice and lies. I lost my credibility in the sight of those that mattered most in my life and ministry at that point and the little anointing I had and treasured then, all because I didn’t summon enough courage to run from sin.

Eventually when God showed me the root of my problems I broke down and asked for forgiveness. He forgave me but it took me years to recover from it all and the damage I did to the grace I had.

Now I know to keep not just my mouth shut but my ears as well. If it’s not something nice, I don’t want to hear it. God has tried me on this area and is still trying me and when He comes it’s with a big hammer.

Sisters not only must we be careful not to give out gossip, we have a responsibility not to receive it as well.

‘A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid a man who talks too much- Proverbs 20:19 NIV

Sisters refuse to eat those tasty morsels of gossip it will eventually choke the life of God out of you. My concern today is not the gossip but the receiver because we can put the gossip out of business by choosing not to listen.

When Saul and Jonathan lost their lives in battle an Amalekite was dumb enough to bring the gist to David. He thought since Saul was David’s mortal enemy that he would get a gift or at least a pat on the back from David. But rather it cost him his life. 2 Samuel 1:1-27.

David could have danced a jig, or punched the air with a victorious ’yes!!!’,after all Saul was his enemy but rather he mourned. He mourned so much that even his men who had no love for Saul wept and mourned with him including Abishai who once whispered to David about Saul … "Let me pin him to the ground with one thrust of the spear; I won't need to strike twice! 1 Samuel 26:8.

My lovely sisters this is the season of the new wine, its time to get rid of that little leaven that leavens the whole lump, the little foxes that ruin the vine yard. Make a commitment to keep a tight reign on your mouth and a fine sieve to your ears and watch God fill your life with power.