Gossip is such an easy sin to fall into. I mean, I really struggle with not gossiping. Whether I'm venting about something that happened to me or even empathizing with someone else, I am constantly catching myself turning the conversation into gossip. Sometimes, I don't even catch myself until after the conversation is over.

The other week, God showed me in a cool and fresh way why He hates gossip. Unfortunately, I learned this lesson while I was gossiping. But I'm happy to share so we can all learn from my mistakes.

A friend and I were talking, and as I mentioned previously, I caught the conversation turning into gossip. I knew we shouldn't be talking negatively about this person, but I didn't want to stop. The topic of conversation changed, and my friend began talking badly about another one of my friends. She didn't realize I was friends with the girl. I immediately became so offended and hurt. I didn't want to sit there while someone was gossiping about my friend. I instantly shut down the conversation, and left the situation feeling bummed.

As I began to explore why I was so upset, God spoke to me, "what makes your friend different than the person you were gossiping about?" I knew exactly where He was going with this one. It clicked.

God loves all of us so much, and not one more than another. That means when we gossip about each other, it hurts His heart, no matter who the person is. God wants His children to treat one another with loving kindness, just like I wanted the friend I was talking with to be nicer to my other friend.

It's a simple concept, but easy to forget. Next time you catch yourself gossiping. Think of it as you're talking bad about God's friend. God doesn't pick favorites. He doesn't have one person he likes and one He's not too crazy about. So it hurts his heart to hear us gossiping about any of His kids.