Good morning and happy Saturday. I hope that you had a good week. I enjoyed spending time with Edwin and Ashton. I am so thankful that God led them to our church. I also had a great meeting with Fitsum and Jeff as we discussed ministry. As always, Brenden gave me some valuable insight as we met to discuss his seminary class.
The other day I was at a business very early in the morning. It was time for one person to get off of work and the other one to start. When they met up, all they did was complain. One if them in particular complained about a lot of things. It was apparent she didn’t like the management and didn’t think they knew what they were doing. She didn’t like her workload. The people she mentioned by name weren’t doing their jobs according to her. On and on it went. My first thought was that she ought to find something else to do or someplace else to work if she disliked it that much. It’s no surprise but when she left, the newly arrived person then complained about her. As I thought about this, I realized that I had heard people complaining at various locations of that business. I just wonder how prevalent it is since they freely do it even with outsiders present in the room. Obviously, widespread complaining and criticizing are not the makings of a healthy work environment. The sad thing is, I think it has become quite common throughout many areas of society. Yes, I know there are situations where a manager or supervisor is inept or otherwise not doing a good job. There are people that are overloaded with work. Unfortunately, there are some people and companies that are just awful to work for. However, it appears that condemnation, criticism and complaints are the components of the modern conversation. The scary thing is, it is easy to fall into that trap. If you aren’t careful, if you are around someone that is doing it, the next thing you know, you are joining in on the rant. I guess that’s part of the reason why talk shows, CNN and Fox are so popular these days. And Facebook, Twitter, and others.
As Christians, we are to be careful not to get caught up in things like that. As you know, throughout the history of the church, , many have been damaged or destroyed by such things as criticism, complaining and gossip. I am thankful that we don’t have very much of that at Community Impact Church. For the most part, people tend to be trying to build one another up and encouraging one another. We are on mission to impact our community with the Gospel and don’t have time for a lot of junk. When we say we are going to love God and love others, that certainly should impact how we talk about the people around us.
29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. (Ephesians 4:29)
9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. 10 For,
“Whoever would love life
and see good days
must keep their tongue from evil
and their lips from deceitful speech.
11 They must turn from evil and do good;
they must seek peace and pursue it. (1 Peter 3:9-11)
5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. (Colossians 4:4-6)
Let us continue to use the mouths God gave us for His glory and honor. He gave us the gift of speech so that we could proclaim the glorious Gospel and praise His Name. Should we then use the same mouth to tear down others? The answer is quite obvious. The apostle James writes: 9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. (James 3:9-10)
I hope to see you tomorrow as we gather to worship Him and sing praises to His Name.
Love God. Love others. Impact our community. Change the world.
Pastor Larry
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