two responsibilities in regard to "evil reports." One is not to give them, and the second is not to receive them.~Joyce Meyers

So whoever cleanses himself [from what is ignoble and unclean, who separates himself from contact with contaminating and corrupting influences] will [then himself] be a vessel set apart and useful for honorable and noble purposes, consecrated and profitable to the Master, fit and ready for any good work.
—2 Timothy 2:21

You and I have two responsibilities in regard to "evil reports."

One is not to give them, and the second is not to receive them.

Each of us has a responsibility not to talk to others negatively and not to let others talk to us that way.

It is our responsibility to help one another in a godly way to get out of the mode of thinking and speaking negatively about others, about ourselves, or about the situations we all have to face and deal with in this life.

At one time when people would come to me to gossip about others, I thought I was obligated to listen to what they had to say.

That's not what the apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 4. He says that we are not to be involved in polluting our own minds or the minds of those around us. According to what Paul wrote to his young disciple Timothy in the above scripture, you and I are supposed to be clean vessels.

We are to keep ourselves pure, and to help others to keep themselves pure as well.