Love Believes the Best: Avoiding the Gossip Trap

I don’t know about you but I’ve got to do better at turning off gossip when I hear it. I also need to not “enable it” when I hear it by giving a participatory laugh or, “now way!” It just makes it worse. It seems as if now days we believe the negative stuff about people more than the positive stuff. When that gossip or rumor reaches our ears, most of us just soak it in and it affects the way we view that person in the future. Happens to me all the time and it’s wrong on my part. We are called to love one another, even those we haven’t met yet. One of the attributes of love is that it believes the best in someone. We often confuse this with being gullible or too trusting of people. The Bible tells us to be discerning too, not foolish, and the Holy Spirit helps us with that. It calls for us to be gentle and wise. Listen, if God can love us in spite of knowing our hidden thoughts and deeds; if He can always believe the best in us, even in our worst moments, then we can do the same, because we are equipped to love others with the love we receive from Him. It is with this love that never condemns, that He won us over, and He expects us to do the same with others.I know, I get it, it’s not always easy, but it’s exactly what Jesus did and what we need to strive to do. “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”1 Corinthians 13:7 (It was not meant for just weddings...)Let us do what it takes to avoid gossip. Should some negative information about a person reach our ears, let us believe the best of that person till the information is proved false or true. If true, let us show grace...and you know why? (You should, Ha!) Because Grace Wins!Be Nice,