There is one thing that you can rely on—rumors aren’t reliable. People mix stories, tell half-truths, and misunderstand what they hear. The results? A story distorted beyond recognition.
Let me illustrate. A number of people in our church once attended a state softball tournament in Wichita Falls. One morning two tables of sponsors were having breakfast in the coffee shop. The conversation at my table turned briefly to the weather and how hot it was.
Then someone changed the subject and asked, “How many people are at the tournament from our church?” I replied, “Ninety-six.” The people at the next table, having heard only part of the conversation, mixed it with the previous subject and said, “Do you mean that it is 96 degrees outside already?” If I had not corrected them then and there, they would have come home and reported that it was 96 degrees in Wichita Falls at 7:30 in the morning!
Besides the human error factor, people who hear and tell rumors almost never do it out of love. If they did, they would go to the people involved and to no one else. Spreading rumors grows out of a secret desire to pass on damaging information that makes us look good.
Solomon told us that there are six things that God hates. Of these, three have to do with the tongue. He said that God hates “a lying tongue ... a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren” (Proverbs 6:17-19).
Few things are more the work of the devil than the spreading of idle rumors. Don’t help him in doing his work. He gets along well enough without your assistance.