December 29, 2023

Proverbs 11: 13 A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy man keeps a secret. (NIV)

Three can keep a secret if two of them are dead.*

I have two problems with being entrusted with another’s secrets: 

1) When I guard the secret but it turns out my friend is out there telling it to everyone else. I hate that – but to be honest, I think I hate it because it robs me of the fun of . . . spreading gossip. 

2) When the secret doesn’t seem like such a big deal and I forget that it’s a secret. I hate it because I want to be known as a person who can be trusted. 

In the community of faith, it is important that we be able to trust one another with our confidences. We are God’s instruments - his ears and mouth and heart – to help bear each other’s burdens. Being an accountability partner is a duty each of us should seek to perform for a brother or a sister. Who wants to confess a weakness to a blabbermouth? 

It is equally essential that we enjoy a reputation for trustworthiness among non-believers. We must ever be aware that the world watches us, and our ability to maintain a confidence is crucial to our witness. 

And a final reminder: not every secret we know is one that has been told to us. I have overheard, observed, and surmised many secrets that I was not meant to know about. Just because I never promised not to tell doesn’t mean I have permission to reveal someone else’s private matters. Gossip is wrong, no matter its source.

A person is always building trust or breaking it.*