I was not close to God, spending time in his word, allowing him to sanctify me. Any time I found that I was trending towards godless chatter, I examined the root cause and it was always a heart issue. For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.” ( Luke 6:45). How is your heart towards Jesus? Jesus said: “ The good man brings good things out of the good treasure of his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil treasure of his heart. If you find yourself speaking poorly of others, initiating or perpetuating gossip, it is probably a good idea to test your heart. My co-worker’s response was “don’t you ever say anything bad about anyone?” Just like that the door opened wide for me to say, “I’m just a screw-up saved by grace, so who am I to criticize someone else.” That led to an opportunity to share my faith with a co-worker. Years ago, at work, a co-worker was gossiping about another, and I didn’t participate and made some positive comment about that person.
I don’t want to suggest that I’ve mastered this area in my life, but It’s probably an area where I have not had to struggle too much. “Can you believe what Sarah said?” “Did you hear what Mike did after the game?” Our ears perk up and we listen intently and not much later we share the news with others.Īs much as gossip is a potential stumbling block, it can also be an opportunity for witness. Proverbs 16:28 says: “A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends.” Paul instructed his student Timothy to: “ Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.” ( 2 Timothy 2: 16) As much as it is painfully obvious in scripture that gossip is at best unhelpful, and at worst sinful, if we are honest with ourselves it is easy to get caught up in it. Gossiping is nothing new it has been around for as long as sinful people have populated this earth. Such talk is fruitless and mature athletes, and coaches need to address gossip at the very beginning before it grows.
Such gossip, unchecked, can grow and like a cancer begins to destroy team chemistry. Naturally some players stand out and irritate others, and soon players begin to talk about them behind their backs and isolate these players. You gather a large number of players together, with often significantly different personalities, backgrounds, values etc., and you expect them to not only get along, but thrive together. It’s the biggest distraction for any team that is trying to stay on the same page because it steers players away from what is important to the team’s success.”īeing on a team can be extremely stressful. “ Teams that gossip never get anything done because they are too busy talking about what is going on instead of working together towards a common goal. The first harmful habit listed caught my attention – Gossip. An article entitled: “ Five Harmful Habits that Destroy Team Chemistry”, lays out the sure-fire ways to kill a team. While it can take significant time to develop team chemistry, it is surprisingly easy to destroy it. Teams search to find team chemistry, the ability to produce something greater as a team than the sum of the individual parts. 2 Timothy 2: 16 Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.
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