Toxic
Several years ago I worked in a place where things started to become toxic with the leadership. The person hired as the boss started out great, but it soon became clear her leadership was a pretty facade hiding a not-so-competent interior. Unfortunately, some of her not-so-competence started to become directed toward myself and others I cared about. Things deteriorated quickly.
I had a group of friends from work who were going through the same thing I was to one degree or another. We couldn't talk at work, but that didn't stop us from talking about it outside of work. Our favorite place to talk was at our weekly Bible study. We started the Bible study with noble enough intent, but as our workplace became toxic, so did our Bible study. It started as praying over our troubling situation, quickly turned into the place where we vented, and our venting swiftly morphed into gossip. I think my friends and I can all look back on that with some regret. At the very least we shouldn't have pretended we were getting together to study the Bible.
Why bring this up so many years later? I bring it up because I don't think I'm alone in being guilty of this toxic habit.
I wonder, how often do we get together with our Christian friends and share "prayer requests" that are just thinly-veiled gossip nuggets? I know I certainly have been guilty of talking about someone behind their back under the guise of "Christian concern" and then the conversation moves into tantalizingly-scandalous bits that would hurt the "victim" if they knew others were discussing it.
It makes me wonder if I'm so unique in my sin of Christian-style gossip. And how much damage does that particular sin wreak on the world? In my situation, I know that our Bible study conversations did damage to all of our relationships with that boss. It was inevitable. There was no way we could talk about her faults and failures outside of that job, but then view her with 100% respect when we saw her the next day.
When Christian brothers and sisters gather together, our words should be edifying, enlightening, and encouraging -- rather than bent on destruction. Are you in a small group at your church? How much of your Bible study time is devoted -- whether accidentally or intentionally -- to nitpicking the pastor or the church? Do you genuinely pray for your pastor and your church? Are you able to respect your pastor 100% after you've studied God's word together with your church friends -- or has your view been tainted by Christian-style gossip during your small group time?
Perhaps you, like me, have been guilty of fueling toxic conversations with others from your church. If so, I beg you to repent and change your habit before it hardens your heart. There is no good place for toxicity in a church setting, whether it takes place outside the walls of the church or not. The path of destruction will not only devastate your own relationship with the pastor, but eventually has the potential to decimate the church body like a cancer as your negativity spreads to others.
I had a group of friends from work who were going through the same thing I was to one degree or another. We couldn't talk at work, but that didn't stop us from talking about it outside of work. Our favorite place to talk was at our weekly Bible study. We started the Bible study with noble enough intent, but as our workplace became toxic, so did our Bible study. It started as praying over our troubling situation, quickly turned into the place where we vented, and our venting swiftly morphed into gossip. I think my friends and I can all look back on that with some regret. At the very least we shouldn't have pretended we were getting together to study the Bible.
Why bring this up so many years later? I bring it up because I don't think I'm alone in being guilty of this toxic habit.
I wonder, how often do we get together with our Christian friends and share "prayer requests" that are just thinly-veiled gossip nuggets? I know I certainly have been guilty of talking about someone behind their back under the guise of "Christian concern" and then the conversation moves into tantalizingly-scandalous bits that would hurt the "victim" if they knew others were discussing it.
It makes me wonder if I'm so unique in my sin of Christian-style gossip. And how much damage does that particular sin wreak on the world? In my situation, I know that our Bible study conversations did damage to all of our relationships with that boss. It was inevitable. There was no way we could talk about her faults and failures outside of that job, but then view her with 100% respect when we saw her the next day.
When Christian brothers and sisters gather together, our words should be edifying, enlightening, and encouraging -- rather than bent on destruction. Are you in a small group at your church? How much of your Bible study time is devoted -- whether accidentally or intentionally -- to nitpicking the pastor or the church? Do you genuinely pray for your pastor and your church? Are you able to respect your pastor 100% after you've studied God's word together with your church friends -- or has your view been tainted by Christian-style gossip during your small group time?
Perhaps you, like me, have been guilty of fueling toxic conversations with others from your church. If so, I beg you to repent and change your habit before it hardens your heart. There is no good place for toxicity in a church setting, whether it takes place outside the walls of the church or not. The path of destruction will not only devastate your own relationship with the pastor, but eventually has the potential to decimate the church body like a cancer as your negativity spreads to others.
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