Are There Rocks in Your Pockets?

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From the archives:

Rocks are heavy.

They bruise when thrown, and they linger long after the impact. You can move on, but the wound remembers. The sting of being talked about—of being misunderstood, judged, or misrepresented—often cuts deeper than we admit.

And yet, how easy it is to pick up our own stones.

Talking about people is like throwing rocks.

We don’t think of it that way, of course.

We think of it as sharing a concern, call it venting, or explaining the situation.

We convince ourselves that we’re just being honest.

But what we’re really doing is standing in a crowd, gripping a stone, ready to throw it at someone who isn’t there to defend themselves.

And those stones—those words—are heavy.

They crush reputations.

They break fellowship.

They damage people we say we love.

The Story of the Woman Caught in Adultery

You remember the story.

A woman was caught in the very act of adultery and dragged out before Jesus by the scribes and Pharisees.

“Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?”

— John 8:5, KJV

She was guilty. No one argued that.

But something was missing from the scene—the man.

Adultery takes two, and yet here she stood alone, humiliated and exposed.

Two sides to every story… but only one was brought into the light.

Isn’t that always the way?

“He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.”

— Proverbs 18:13, KJV

How often have we formed opinions from only half the story?

How often have we repeated something before we knew the whole truth?

Jesus said nothing at first.

Jesus didn’t respond with a lecture.

He didn’t scold or correct or defend.

He stooped, and He drew in the dirt.

“But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.”

— John 8:6, KJV

I wonder what He wrote??

Maybe her name. Maybe the name of the man she had sinned with. Maybe the names of the sinners in the angry mob.

Or….Maybe he simply wrote mercy.

Whatever it was, the silence thundered louder than any sermon.

And then He stood and said:

“He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.”

— John 8:7, KJV

And one by one… they dropped their rocks.

“And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.”

— John 8:9, KJV

We Need to Do the Same

We need to drop our rocks.

Stop talking about family members.

Stop dissecting church members.

Stop dragging your pastor’s name into casual conversation.

Stop assuming.

Stop venting.

Stop spiritualizing gossip and calling it prayer.

The Bible is clear:

“But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.”

— 1 Peter 4:15, KJV

Let that sink in.

God places the meddling busybody in the same list as the murderer.

That should shake us up!

This is particularly true within our churches.

It’s not always the big, obvious sins that divide the body.

Not always adultery.

Not always embezzlement.

Not always public failure.

Sometimes it’s just… talk.

The tongue has destroyed far more churches than scandal.

A look. A whisper. A subtle jab. A comment made in front of the wrong person at the wrong time.

Sometimes it’s what we don’t say in defense of a brother or sister.

The tongue, the Bible says, is a fire.

“The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity… it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.”

— James 3:6, KJV

God help us.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been guilty too.

I write this not from a place of condemnation, but from confession.

I have talked when I should’ve prayed.

I’ve speculated when I should’ve stayed silent.

I’ve spoken too soon, too long, and too freely.

And I’ve felt the sting when someone did the same to me.

You probably have too.

We all get our feathers ruffled when we find out we’ve been the subject of someone’s conversation or criticism.

We’re quick to say, “That’s not the whole story!”

But how full are our own pockets of rocks?

Words are like rocks.

Every word is a choice to build or to break.

To lift or to wound.

To echo heaven… or to echo the accuser.

And the only Rock we’ve been given permission to lean on is Christ.

“Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone.”

— Ephesians 2:20, KJV

He is our firm foundation—not a weapon to hurl.

He is the Rock of Ages—meant to be our cornerstone, not something we throw at our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

Friend, the church doesn’t need more whispered stones.

It needs more stooping.

More mercy.

More people willing to be quiet until they know the whole story—if they ever need to know it at all!!

Next time you feel the urge to speak about someone…

Before the words leave your mouth…

Reach into your heart and see what you’re holding.

If it’s a rock—drop it.

And walk away.

Biblical Womanhood

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