Thought for 27th September

 

2 Timothy 2:16

Avoid godless, foolish discussions that lead to more and more ungodliness.

I heard of a situation recently when a church member approached an office bearer saying they heard that one of the other members of the congregation had been told to stay away from the church.  The member this person was referring to was sitting in his usual pew.  What this person had heard was complete and utter rubbish.  We would never ask anyone to stay away from the church unless there was a seriously good reason for doing so, but it shows you how inaccurate information can be shared.  It also makes you wonder about the source of the information.  Did someone just make this up and if so, why?  What or who prompted someone to concoct a complete lie?

When I was on a training course about Communication a long time ago, we were given an exercise which sticks with me to this day.  The lecturer took one of us aside and whispered a piece of information into his ear.  The student was then asked to pass this on to one of his fellow students in the same manner keeping the message the same but using different words and so on and so forth until the last student was asked to write what he had been told onto the blackboard.  The first student who received the information was told to write the information he had been given below that.  The two pieces of information were totally different and had no obvious connection whatsoever.  This exercise was to demonstrate that information shared verbally could not always be relied upon, it can be open to misinterpretation (either accidentally or deliberately) and it can lead to misinformation being shared.

Gossip can be a real poison and today’s reading warns us to shun or avoid it because it draws us away from God.  We need to be really cautious when receiving information about another person, especially if the sharing of that information could cause hurt or embarrassment.  Maybe we should ask ourselves that if this information was about ourselves, how would we feel about it being shared?

Prayer - Heavenly Father, we thank you for the wise instructions we are taught in your word and for the spiritual strength and courage that we have received, through the grace that is ours in Christ Jesus.  Help us, we pray, to abstain from every kind of evil, especially the sharing of information that may cause hurt for others and help us to run the race that is set before us, looking always to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.  In Jesus' name we pray,  Amen