"The hyprocrite with his mouth destroys his neighbor, but through knowledge the righteous will be delivered." Proverbs 11:9
In the law of God, the tendency of hatred is represented in the sixth commandment as murder. When you hate someone in your heart, you want to see them fall; and if you hate them bad enough and think you can get away with it, you'll actually stretch out your hand, like Cain, and strike your brother down.
Thankfully, God has so ordered society that the temptation to kill those we hate is greatly restrained. As every Agatha Christie novel reminds us, you're not likely to get away with murder.
But our fear of being found out by some Hercule Poirot doesn't mean that the hatred in our hearts is in the least diminished. It just puts away the pistol as too risky and looks for other, safer ways to do its mischief.
And what is a more effective way to destroy the person that you envy and hate than to destroy his or her reputation? To gossip is perfectly acceptible in society. People eat it up. And so at very little risk to yourself personally, you'll find you can easily gratify the hatred in your heart just by talking critically about people behind their backs to cast aspersions upon their character and lives.
I'm not telling you something you do not know. We do this all the time.
Here is wisdom: That person is a hypocrite who condemns murderers and destroys his neighbor with his mouth. So take the sin of slander seriously, Christians. The temptation to gossip is great, but the knowledge of Christ will deliver you. The next time you're tempted to indulge in murderous speech (likely this afternoon), instead hold your tongue, spare your neighbor, and before the cross of the Harmless One (Heb. 7:26), condemn the hatred in your heart instead.
