Communication Disfunction

A man came to see me. We had talked on the telephone a couple of times in the days preceding his coming. He had shared during our telephone calls that some emotional struggles were filling his days, and I had encouraged him as best I could.

He had made a statement or two in our talks that I had brushed off quickly. I don’t find any interest in discussing “Church” matters related to who had done something to someone in days past that created division. It’s better to just take things from where they are and get on with building a solid future.

When he came (and we sat together for an hour or more) he rambled on about “religion,” the need for “agape love” for everyone in the World. What he did not talk about was Christ, and his personal involvement in the Kingdom.

He tried a couple of times to steer the subject to past wrongs in the Church he attended until recently. I fended off his comments for a while, but he circled and circled until he couldn’t hold it any longer, then just blurted out “who,” “when,” and “where.”

Paul, the Apostle, said in Ephesians 4:29-32:

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace to the hearers.  . . . Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you,  along with all malice: And be kind to one  another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

It just doesn’t help to continue the battle by bringing others into the fray, hoping they will embrace your cause. It is like pouring diesel fuel on a fire – the flames grow and spread, and instead of helping to end it, it is made to proliferate.

I learned long ago that being drawn into a fight is a good way to get hurt. . .and to hurt others. That is not the design of God, nor should it be the action of His Church.