When Saints Become Devils

Have you ever sat through a church business meeting in which some otherwise godly members seemed intent on causing trouble and fostering disunity? Who wanted not only to disagree but to do so in a disagreeable manner? Why do otherwise godly people sometimes behave badly in church business meetings? D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones suggests that one reason is that Christian people fail to think spiritually about every facet of life:

Spurgeon once told his students that they would find that people who in prayer meetings prayed like real saints, and who in general behaved like true saints, in a church meeting could suddenly become devils. Alas, the history of the church proves that what he said is but too true. You see, in praying to God they think spiritually. Then they come to the business of the church and become devils. Why? Because they start off in an unspiritual manner, on the assumption that there is some essential difference between a church meeting and a prayer meeting. They have a party spirit within them and out it comes. It is simply because they forget that they need to think spiritually about everything. The first principle we lay down, therefore is, that we must learn to think spiritually always.

(D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Faith Tried and Triumphant, p. 106.)