I Said Something...

Have you ever said anything you knew from the moment...no, before the moment you said it - that you should not say it at all?  I said something that I had no business repeating for several reasons.
1. It was third party information.
2. It was detrimental regarding one person.
3. I shared it with someone who now had added reasons to be frustrated with this person.
4. It is a sin to gossip.  (This is really the number one reason it is wrong.)
Never mind that the conversation obviously was repeated by one of the original people involved. That is not my responsibility.  My responsibility came into play when I decided what to do with that information.
I didn't divulge a secret or break a promise, but my actions were thoroughly wrong.
Proverbs 17:9  Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends. 
I was not covering an offense.  I was giving negative information to someone about someone else. "Ooooo" and sad face.  That sounds awful as I type it. Maybe online confessions will be a deterrent to repeating bad behavior.  Maybe I should rethink this post as I would like for you to think the best of me.  But the truth is, there is no best in me.  The Best in me is Jesus and my actions did not honor Him.
In spite of that - instead of confessing, I did the dishes.  We have a dishwasher, but suddenly I felt this great need to clean something.  So I grabbed this pan with baked on grime - (the analogy was not lost on me)  - and as I scrubbed, God spoke to my heart in a small voice which was like thunder. "You can work all day to make your house shine, but until you confess your sin to Me, you will not be free from the uncleanliness you carry inside." (Now, I do not believe God speaks audibly to me...no.  It is much louder than that and His truth about my sin was gnawing inside me.)
I finished my task and plopped down to bow before a Sovereign God who loves me and wants what is the very best for me.  We often live - in misery - with our sins, carrying them around like unwanted, constant companions, when all we have to do to be free of them is confess and repent before our loving Father.
Is there ever a time to repeat something negative?  Maybe...but perhaps really seldom, if ever.
The relief from our guilt cannot come from the hearer who promises not to repeat a matter, but from the Hearer of all conversations who deals with them according to His just ways.  Therefore...
Psalm 19:14  Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.