Friday, December 06, 2013

Challies on "The 5 Gossips You Will Meet"

Yesterday, Tim Challies posted another article related to Resisting Gossip, a short summary of and elaboration on chapter 3, "A Gallery of Gossips."

It's called "The 5 Gossips You Will Meet" and introduces readers to the Spy, the Grumbler, the Backstabber, the Chameleon, and the Busybody.

Remember: these five are not the only types of gossips that exist in this world! Our hearts are very creative in mixing up new motivations. These are just five common types which we find in the Scriptures that driven by at least five ordinary (but ungodly) motivations. It's not the last word on the subject, but hopefully a helpful first word.

One thing that Tim's article doesn't have space to go into is that the gospel addresses each of those heart-level motivations with powerful promises that provide that forgiveness and sanctifying grace that Tim alludes to in his conclusion. In that chapter and my forthcoming article on this in the Journal of Biblical Counseling, I try to show gospel antidotes to each of them so that, by grace, we can grow out of being gossips.

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