It isn’t what they say about you, it’s what they whisper.
~ Errol Flynn
Gossip is a dark way to gain a sense of control by crushing another’s reputation with words. . . . Gossip repeatedly shows up in Scripture’s lists of heinous sins (with adultery, murder, and theft) because it kills the heart of another human being.
~ Sharon Hersh, in Brave Hearts
No one gossips about other people’s secret virtues.
~ Bertrand Russell
To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.
No one gossips about other people’s secret virtues.
A sense of duty is useful in work, but offensive in personal relations. People wish to be liked, not be endured with patient resignation.
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No Christian community is exempt from the problem of the “complaining member.” This person(s) can find fault with everything the community does, or does not do. “The music is too loud.” “Feeding the poor only makes them lazy.” “Did you see what the pastor’s wife was wearing?” “Can’t the pastor make his children behave?” “The youth group ruined that room when they painted the walls.” Fodder for complaints is limitless. Perhaps the following story throws light on a potential solution.
A prince once asked his shrewish wife to fashion a purple garment for him. During the time she was busy with it, he had peace. When she brought it to him, he exlaimed: “Woe is me!” The princess retorted: “I bring you a fine garment, yet you sigh.” The prince answered: “I sigh at the thought that you may now perchance return to your shrewish ways.”
By the same token, when Israel continually grumbled, God asked them to build the Tabernacle, that they might thus be to busy to complain. When it was completed, he exclaimed: “Woe is Me! It is finished!”
(Talmud, Pesikta Rabbati, 5, 9)
One of the findings from the recent Reveal surveys conducted in American churches is that increasing the level of activity in religious functions does not generally indicate a corresponding increase in spiritual growth. Nevertheless, there are a significant number of church members/attenders who need to increase their level of participation. And, of that group, chronic complainers must surely be at the top of the list.
Chronic complaining is a symptom. It may be a symptom of spiritual immaturity, or it may be a symptom that someone is not adequately participating in the life of the community. Either way, it behooves us to attend to their condition by helping them to get “too busy to complain”.
Franklin D. Roosevelt instituted the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) during the Great Depression. The purpose of the corps was to take unemployed workers and put them to work on worthwhile projects. The program benefited everyone; the workers, their families, their communities, and the nation. Giving significant responsibilities to those currently not employed in the ministry of the church has similar benefits; one of which is that those who are actively and enthusiastically engaged in building are not nearly as likely to become engaged in tearing down (complaining).
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