The word translated “stirs up” literally means “scatters as seed” or “hurls as a missile, weapon.” Neither of these is a great picture of the perverse person Solomon is talking about. This person is after wide and brutal destruction. That may not even be their goal although being a “perverse person” implies that it probably is. Often a gossip can almost not help themselves. Spreading a bad report is as addictive to them as a drug. They hear a bad report and are immediately on the lookout for where to go with it. Or they don’t hear a bad report so they create one out of thin air. They find both pleasure and power in spreading a destructive report about another. Usually their target is someone they envy or are in the shadow of. I recently saw this in a group of middle school girls. It was painful to the point of tears for the targeted child. I’ve seen the same thing at a more sophisticated level in business leaders as they jockey for position and power. It is not as painful as watching an innocent child victimized by bullies but it is still sad to see. If I’ve learned one lesson from a study of the life of Jesus it is the power of kind words. Kindness in general can be transformative and similarly kind words change the speaker, the hearer and the object of the words. It is powerful. As Albert Schweitzer said, “Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.” Unlike gossip that separates and destroys like an explosive missile kind words heal and connect. Today speak life through kindness. #BeTheEdge
“A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.” Jesus
