Gossipers get a feel-good addictive surge out of bad news. Personal sins of others delight them like the discovery of hidden treasure. They are seeking to show themselves righteous by comparison. This is a sick kind of self-righteousness which wants the hearer to conclude, “I am so much better than that.” The solution is to confess our own sins and not the sins of others. Pray for the offender. Restore the fallen when you can.
“Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another.” Galatians 6:1-4 (NASB)
