If i were to pick some of the fruits of the holy spirit that needs more culitvation amongst the body of Christ it would be KINDNESS. And GENTLENESS
Not that love, peace, joy, faithfulness, patience, goodness, gentleness, temperance arent importance but the focus in todays world and the church seems to have neglected kindness.
Why because the world goes its own way, not thinking of others before themselves, putting self interest first, and sadly the church seems to follow. The 'we're number one' mentality of competition and striving neglects kindness. The ability to listen, thats kindness.
Often ive noticed in church settings its the one who can make the most noise thats heard. And people that are naturally quiet, maybe introverts, are shut out. The strong are revered and the weak shunned. This should not be so. Its the exact opposite, when we are weak, He is strong.
Also how can we hear that still small voice when everything is so noisy and strident in church. We cant. If you arent in the praise band you're not even hooked up to the amplifier. Amplifiers arent gentle, they can make everything sound screechy and distorted.
Ive visited a lot of church settings and sadly many of them are the same. The preacher in the pulpit is often the noisiest, the one who most wants to argue, and talk over everyone else. Sometimes he'll quite dozens of scriptures so that your flipping all over the bible and losing the train of thought and cant follow but since he quoted dozens its seems impressive. The lead worship singer sometimes instead of leading worship, will put on a performance instead. I dont know why some churches are like this. Are they filming it for tv? Well in some cases they actually do. This isnt a service, its a show!
Having said that there may be some churches that are not like this but this just seems typical of many. I just hang out at the library...
Or the garden...if they have one and havent ripped it up for more carpark.