"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT!"

A number of years ago my Dad ran large Christian retreat camp grounds in Northern California.  This camp was set up to serve hundreds of people (both adult retreat groups and children camps) at the same time.  He had a large staff to operate the many different camp areas and services provided to campers.  He would meet with this staff for short 15 minute group devotion every morning.  There were two devotions that stuck with me these many years; they were lessons I remember and have applied to my life again and again.  This week I would like to share about the second one (see last week for the first one):  Gossip.

Due to a growing problem with gossip among the staff My Dad shared:  “Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour; I am the LORD.”  Leviticus 19:16 KJV

“A talebearer revealeth secrets: but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter.”  Proverbs 11:13

“He that goeth about as a talebearer revealeth secrets: therefore meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips.”  Proverbs 20:19 KJV

Dad shared how devastating it is when we share something we hear about someone else whether it is true or not.  He pointed out that the Lord did not like “talebearer’s” and commanded against it.  I love the next thing he told us to do!  He told us that when someone comes up to us and starts telling us something about someone else we were to put our index fingers in our ears and shout at the top of our lungs, “I DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT!”  When staff members started doing this others would look to see who it was that was trying to gossip.  With this approach, the problem with gossiping just died off.

A dear friend of mine named Gladys shared with me that gossip actually is murder with words.  Ouch!  Think about it.  Does gossip bring life to anyone?  Whether the tale that is told is true or not its retelling brings hurt to the person being gossiped about and to the person hearing it.  You see, upon hearing it that person forms a judgment against the one being gossiped about.  The next time that person comes into contact with the one that was gossiped about their whole relationship with them will be colored by what they heard.  Gossip brings death to fellowship.

What does it take to stop gossip?  God’s Word is clear, “You shall not go up and down as a dispenser of gossip and scandal among your people,” Leviticus 19:16 AMP.  Choose to obey God’s Word today; choose to not gossip.  What if someone tells you something juicy about someone else, even if try to hid it in the form of a prayer request?  Tell the talebearer that you choose not to gossip and would appreciate they not tell you such things again, “…therefore associate not with him who talks too freely,”  Proverbs 20:19b AMP.  Sound like a harsh thing to do?  Yes, but sometimes you have to do something harsh and loud to show them their sin of gossip.  When you have tried everything to stop the gossip and all else fails put your index fingers in your ears and shout at the top of your lungs, “I DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT!”  Believe me, it works!

"ATTITUDE CHECK!"

A number of years ago my Dad ran large Christian retreat camp grounds in Northern California.  This camp was set up to serve hundreds of people (both adult retreat groups and children camps) at the same time.  He had a large staff to operate the many different camp areas and services provided to campers.  He would meet with this staff for short 15 minute group devotion every morning.  There were two devotions that stuck with me these many years; they were lessons I remember and have applied to my life again and again.  This week I would like to share about the first one I learned:  “Attitude Check”.

Dad shared that some of the staff had been found complaining.  Some complaints were about campers (individuals attending a program at the camp), some about co-workers, and some about working conditions.  In his short sharing that morning he reminded us that if it was a problem with working conditions then it was the staff member’s obligation to report the problem to their supervisor so that it could be rectified.  He encouraged the staff to also come to their supervisor if there was a problem with a co-worker or a camper.  He strongly stressed what was not appropriate was complaining to each other about other people.  He showed us that complaining showed an attitude of discontentment.  Attitudes of discontentment tend to spread like wildfire among all the individuals that hear the complaints.  If we look at the Children of Israel we see a good example of this:     

“…ALL the congregation cried out with a loud voice, and [they] wept that night.  All the Israelites grumbled and deplored their situation, accusing Moses and Aaron, to whom the whole congregation said, Would that we had died in Egypt! Or that we had died in this wilderness!  Why does the Lord bring us to this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and little ones will be a prey. Is it not better for us to return to Egypt?  And they said one to another, Let us choose a captain and return to Egypt.”  Numbers 14:1-4 AMP

“All the Israelites grumbled.”  We are talking about hundreds of thousands of people.  They ALL grumbled.  How could they all be agreed on such a negative thing?  Of twelve spies returning to report on the land the Israelites were given two reports regarding the conditions of the land they were about to gain.  Both reports showed how it was truly a fertile land with giants living in it but one report (given by two of the spies) was presented with optimism, “Let us go up at once and possess it; we are well able to conquer it” (Num. 13:30) and the other report (given by the remaining 10 spies) was presented with complaining, “The land through which we went to spy it out is a land that devours its inhabitants,” (Num. 13:32).  The Israelites choose to believe the bad report, so much so they were willing to forgo years of traveling in the wilderness and return to slavery rather than take a chance on dying there.  It only took ten people to cause thousands to complain.   This was not the only time the Israelites took on the attitude of complaining.  Consider the following complaining:

• Dying at the hands of Pharaoh’s army in the wilderness.  Exodus 14:10-12
• Dying of starvation in the wilderness.  Exodus 16:2-3
• Dying of thirst in the wilderness.  Exodus 17:2-3
• Not having meat to eat.  Numbers 11:4-5

Dad gave the staff a challenge that morning that has stuck with me the rest of my life.  He told us that the next time we were listening to someone complain that we should say to them, “Attitude check!”  This was a way of breaking the chain of complaint and helping the person who was complaining to realize just what they were doing.  Then we were to take a moment and pray for each other.  Let me tell you, there was a lot less complaining around the camp.  The result of this lesson (and the other one which I will share next week) was the workplace environment of that camp became one of the best I have ever experienced in my 40 years in the workforce.

I no longer am around the people who learned that lesson with me.  We have all moved on to other jobs or got married and had families but even though I may not have the same friends or co-workers around it does not mean that I can ignore the possibility of a complaining attitude in my life now.  I have asked the Lord to let me know when I am complaining or judging.  He has been quite faithful in speaking to my spirit (along with a little Holy Spirit conviction) the words, “Attitude Check!”  When He does I ask His forgiveness (and the forgiveness of any person I may have offended) and repent.  Far be it from me to wander and die in the wilderness of complaining.  How much better it is to be content and move into what God has prepared for me no matter what giants I may face.  Thank You God for attitude checks!

“Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.”  Philippians 4:11 KJV