How Are Church Members Like Mosquitos?

I hate mosquitos. Those tiny little vampires aren't content to merely steal little bits of your life; they have to
make their presence known. First, that grating buzzing sound, the high-pitched whine of the air moving through their wings. The welts and itching after. Some even carry disease -- making them not merely annoying, but potentially deadly!

Of course, come to think of it, haven't we all known church members like that? Maybe some of us even are those people, without knowing it! Siphoning the life blood of the church, little by little, buzzing annoyingly in the leaders' ears, and spreading disease from one congregant to the next. Gossip and slander, however well-intentioned, is a poison that threatens the health and even life of every church in America.

Somebody even now may not realize I'm talking to him or her. After all, they think, I don't gossip. I don't slander. I just have certain concerns about certain people that I feel, in all good conscience, absolutely must be discussed among other Christians, entirely out of earshot of the person about whom we're talking (because we wouldn't want their feelings hurt).

Psalm 101:5 says you are a slanderer. A poison-spreading mosquito, ripe for the swatting.

Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor,
Him I will destroy;
The one who has a haughty look and a proud heart,
Him I will not endure.

Examine your heart -- and examine your actions. Then, humble yourself before God, beg forgiveness of both Him and those you've wronged.