“Your boasting is not appropriate. Do you not know that a little yeast leavens all the dough?” (I Corinthians 5:6)
We have been talking to our staff a lot about attitudes in the workplace recently. Your attitude about your day and the situations you face is your decision. You can choose to make it a good day, or you can choose to be angry and frustrated. The problem with that is that you bring the rest of your co-workers right along with you in anger and frustration, and the mood is contagious. It can make for an all-around unhappy day for everyone! You can even carry that anger and frustration home with you, and the mood is contagious to your family.
Today’s passage from Corinthians is talking about sin as the “yeast” in the church. Paul seems to be telling us that sin, like attitude, needs to be addressed before it erodes the fellowship of believers. Left unattended, a little bit of sin has a negative influence on others just as a little bit of yeast can affect all of the bread dough. We can either ignore sinful acts within the church or prayerfully assist each other to repent of those sins and return to the fellowship of the church. My study guide says we should not do this out of vengeance but out of love. We encourage, pray for, build up one another and are intolerant of sin (or yeast in our bread dough) that spreads throughout the entire church. And, likewise, we coach, encourage and build up staff and each other to work on our attitudes so we promote a positive work environment.