sharing the gospel | teaching virtue | family life
What if gossiping didn't have a negative meaning? What if it were a way to spread the Good News?
I heard a phrase several weeks ago and it has stuck like glue. I’ve been taking my time trying to figure out what I was supposed to do with it and today it all came together. The phrase is: go forth and gossip the Gospel! Given the fact that gossip has a typically negative meaning and is often something Christians try to avoid, it needed some thought.
That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, rooted and grounded in love.
(Ephesians 3:17)
As is very often the case, my students help me see things with a fresh, innocent perspective. As each class comes into my room, we always begin by praying our Psalm and prayer of the month, and then each student offers prayer petitions or intentions. I’m often touched by the things on their hearts that they ask others to pray for. People often send us prayer requests and I share those with the kids, and then we put the request into the class prayer jar and without fail, every single day someone says, “And for all the needs in our prayer jar.”
They are truly powerful praying kids. Recently among other requests, we’ve been praying for two little babies. One of the children prayed that God would "heal them enough today to make their parents feel hopeful,” and another one prayed, “God, please just let them know You are hearing us and You love them.” As I sat down to type and peeled through my newsfeed quickly, I saw wonderful posts from both babies' parents about good days and strong babies, and I realized what gossip the Gospel meant.
We are all so faithful in confidently offering our petitions to the Father, but I don’t think my “ask Him’s” comes even close to matching my “thank you for thats.” We are so quick to ask for prayers or share our concerns and situations but if you’re like me, we completely miss the mark in taking the opportunity to gossip the Gospel when a prayer is answered. The Gospel is the road map for all the work, expectations, and examples Jesus left for us. The Gospel teaches us about Jesus and His miracles and healing, and we should share those when they happen.
Tomorrow I need to begin class by saying, “Wait till you hear what God did. Here’s how He heard our prayers and answered back.”
Gossip is the scoop everybody wants to get in on. What if the biggest thing we wanted others to get in on were the amazing ways Jesus is working in our lives every day? What if we faced frustration and disappointment and stress with a little Gospel gossip like, “Ya know what, God parted the Red Sea—I’m pretty sure we can trust Him to help with this. Let’s take a minute and ask Him for help.”
Step two would be to get back together with that same person later and share how He responded. We were made to love and be loved, so when I saw a frazzled, tired friend trying to muster up the joy and energy to tackle the day, we stopped and prayed for God’s peace and joy and went on with our day. A few minutes later that same friend told me about the totally out-of-the-blue and unexpected hug she got from a student that just touched her heart. I realized that when she found me to share, she in fact was gossiping the Gospel and it was so cool.
The more we ask, the more we should thank and then we should share. The more we share, the more aware we become of the countless ways the Father is working in our days, and that my friends, gives us plenty of Gospel to gossip about. Instead of asking how about the weather or what’s on the schedule for the weekend, what if we asked, “What has Jesus been doing in your life?” They may need to give it some thought but it won’t be long before we discover we have a lot of Gospel gossiping to do.
A Seed To Plant:
Every day for the next week, write down something God had done in your life, then share one (or more) of them with someone in your family, classroom, neighborhood, parish, or park … go ahead. Gossip that Gospel!