I don’t know if it is S.A.D.
(Seasonal Affective Disorder) problem or not, but due to the heavy doses of
snow, cold, and wind in the last week or so, I found myself in recent days
dealing with a complaining, grumbling spirit. I quickly became sick and tired
of shoveling and trying to blow the snow in the wind as it whipped back in my
face and went where it wasn’t supposed to go. I was weary of cleaning off
vehicles, scraping ice, and getting into cold cars. These things are all part
of living in Maine in the winter. I expect them – as I have for most of my
life. Having the sun come out on Sunday was a blessing and a big help.
Nevertheless I was carrying an inner annoyance and aggravation about it all.
A complaining spirit or attitude is
something I often feel that I have a right to… when I have it. My tendency is
to nurse it and if you get in the way – too bad for you! People around us are
often the casualties of our attitudes and moods. I can think of a number of
reasons why nursing a complaining spirit is a bad idea…
1. How I can treat people in negative
ways. I might hurt someone.
2. It expresses ingratitude to God
and shows lack of contentment with His will.
3. It is self-centered (all about
me).
4. It doesn’t do anything to improve
the situation.
5. It often leads to quarrels with
those I love.
In the Bible God was often disappointed – even angry
- with His people for their complaining ways. Adam and Eve complained. Moses complained. The
Israelites who came out of Egypt complained, as did David and Jonah and some of
the prophets. When they did not get their way… when things were not comfortable
or easy… when their expectations were not met… they began to grumble.
How much joy we miss out on when we complain… not to
mention peace and satisfaction with God. How much blessing we keep from
bestowing upon others. When I complain it’s like I erect a barrier all around
me that makes it hard for people to approach me. No one enjoys being around
“Mr. Negative”.
The good news is that in Christ I have every reason
for joy. I can confess my complaining spirit, let God’s grace wash its effects
from me, seek the filling of the Holy Spirit, and become an encourager and
lifter of others. Complaining will bring others down, though I do it because somehow
I expect it will make me feel better. It doesn’t. When I set my grumbling aside
I can build people up, bless them, and give them hope and courage instead of
infecting them.
May God’s grace lead us to joy, and may it lead us
to by-pass the dead-end road of a complaining spirit.
Numbers 11:1-4 (NIV) 1 Now the people complained about their
hardships in the hearing of the LORD,
and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the LORD burned among them and consumed some
of the outskirts of the camp. 2 When the people cried
out to Moses, he prayed to the LORD
and the fire died down. 3 So that place was called
Taberah, because fire from the LORD
had burned among them. 4 The rabble with them began to
crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, "If
only we had meat to eat!
Philippians 2:5 (NIV) Your attitude should be the same as
that of Christ Jesus:…
that of Christ Jesus:…
Philippians
2:14-15 (NIV) 14 Do everything without complaining
or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and
pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in
which you shine like stars in the universe
1 Peter 4:9 (NIV)
Offer
hospitality to one another without grumbling.
James 4:1-3 (NIV) 1 What causes fights and quarrels among you?
Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You
want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what
you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3
When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong
motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
PRAYER: Father, lead me to a true and deep contentment
that will serve as a barrier to complaining. Deliver me from a spirit of
grumbling and fill me with the joy of the Lord. In Christ’s name, AMEN.”
Jesus
Christ is Lord!
Scott
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