Bandwagon
We’ve all done it at some point or another.
I found myself doing it again last week.
Jumping on the perennial “Bandwagon”.
I was headed to lunch in the car with a couple of co-workers. The conversation started to go in the direction of talking about the poor performance and attitude of some of our leaders and peers. We weren’t talking constructively at all, we were basically dogging these people – how poorly they act, what they should and shouldn’t do, and how “bad they are to work with”.
I’d like to say that I stayed completely out of the conversation. That I turned the direction of the conversation to something else; like who is going to win the football game this weekend, how was their kids recent play performance, did they see that YouTube video of the hang glider without a harness… but I didn’t. I ended up giving my two cents worth about the folks we were all talking about too.
I failed as a Real Christian Businessman! I failed to represent who I was and also who I was trying to be, and ended up bringing down others in that moment with my words.
The good news is that God forgives us of this type of behavior if we will just ask him.
And later that day I did just that.
Now this doesn’t give me or any of us the freedom to walk around talking badly about folks behind their back – our instruction manual clearly outlines this is not the way we should act.
“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Eph 4:29 (ESV)
This serves as an example for us all, as a reminder, to steer clear of the ”talking about others behind their back” bandwagon.
Walk away from the conversation. If you can’t do that (like in my example this week – in a car with nowhere to go) stay silent. Change the topic, check your phone – just try and do something that will keep you out of the trap that has been laid out for you.
You may not stay off of the bandwagon every time, but let’s use my example this week to help us all remember not to jump on it if at all possible.
There is enough of that going on right now as it is.