1 Corinthians 13:4-7 “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
The original Greek word for protect in this verse is pronounced stegō. It means: (1) to preserve, (2) to cover over with silence, (3) to keep secret, and (4) to hide, conceal the errors and faults of others. To protect someone means to protect all that concerns them. My wife protects mine. She is always building me up to others. I often think she makes me sound better than I am. She goes out of her way to make me look good. She does this because she loves me.
If we want to love others then we have to learn to protect their reputation. We don’t protect people’s reputation when we allow rumors to spread. Proverbs shares many verses on this subject and the reasons why we need to avoid it.
Proverbs 18:8 shares the most important reason. Solomon must have thought so because he repeated it in verse 26:22. The NLT version explains it as “Rumors are dainty morsels that sink deep into one’s heart”.
Rumors contaminate our heart. 2 Timothy 2:16 says, “Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.”
When we put others down we take ourselves down as well. Idle words may seem harmless and feel good at the time, but it gradually hardens our heart. It is impossible to love others when our hearts are hardened.
Proverbs 16:28 shares another reason why we need to avoid false conversations. It reads, “A perverse man stirs up dissension, and a gossip separates close friends.”
I wonder how many friendships have been destroyed by rumors? I wonder how many families have been divided because of false assumptions? Rumors spread like wildfire and don’t go out until someone put them out. The more a rumor spreads the more it deceives. Usually the story told is twisted so far from the truth that you eventually know each person who shared it had to have added something new as they shared it with the next. What hurts the most is that often there was nothing wrong in the first place. The one who started the rumor didn’t like someone else being blessed, so they took something out of context and twisted it to make that person look bad. I almost lost a great friendship because of something I said in a private conversation that was repeated as fact outwardly with more stuff added to it. I learned my lesson that day.
Proverbs 26:20 says, “Without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies down.”
Every one that shares a rumor throws their wood onto the fire to keep it going. All it takes is one person to stand up and say, “I’m not going to accept that.” The fire would’ve ended there.
We may not be the ones who spread rumor, but how many times do we sit in the middle of rumors and just listen? To protect someone’s reputation means that we’ll have to stand up in others’ defense when they’re being talked about.
Leviticus 19:16 says, “Do not go about spreading slander among your people. Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the LORD. “
People’s lives can be dramatically affected by rumors. How many people do you know that will never be respected because their mistakes have been shared with the world? We are to build up, not tear down. When we build others up and protect their reputations, God will protect ours.
I encourage you to pray for God to help you protect others. Pray for courage to stand up and defend those who are being slandered. Remember, as you build others up God will build you up.
1 Corinthians 8:1b AMP “Knowledge causes people to be puffed up (to bear themselves loftily and be proud), but love (affection and goodwill and benevolence) edifies and builds up and encourages one to grow [to his full stature].”
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