Failures of Community - Harmful Attitudes

Failures in Christian Community - Harmful Attitudes

Ephesians 4:31

31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

We have all felt ostracized. Left out. Not wanted. We have all felt like we didn’t fit in. Didn’t connect. Were not noticed. We have all heard that someone said something about us. While we may quote “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me” the reality is words do hurt. Words create wounds that remain for days, months, years, and decades. 

How we treat one another matters. Sadly, the long-standing joke is that churches all across our country split over stupid disputes like carpet colors and room decor. It is not simply the color that does this, it is the attitude of the opposing sides. 

Christian community should be a place of reconciliation not revenge. It should be a place of love not hate. It should be a place of honest sharing not hidden slander. Bitterness exists. Wrath and anger bubble over. 

Clamor happens when disagreements are had. Slander is experienced. Malice is too often allowed. Friends, as we seek to live in community, we must combat and correct our own attitudes towards others. 

We need to work on the log in our own eyes. We need to consider what fruit is coming from our life, the fruit of the Spirit or the fruit of the flesh (see Galatians 5:15-23). Your attitude matters. Are you holding it in check? Are you taming your tongue? Are you giving grace or demanding justice?