Complaining

“On the seventh day God rested...and on the 8th day God started answering complaints.”

Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, orders up a tall order. Do all things without murmuring ..."complaining."  Doesn't he realize who we are? Doesn't he understand that we are Methodist and we were born to complain? Somebody once said, "It's not the things I don't understand about the Bible that trouble me, it's the things I do understand!”

I understand scripture: work without complaining, serve without complaining, give without complaining, go without complaining. I understand this and it troubles me. Do you know why? Because I occasionally, well regularly, complain. Yet, the truth of the matter is that we really have very little to complain about, most of the time it doesn't help and most of the stuff we complain about is not worth it.

One question we need to ask when we begin to complain is, "Why are we complaining?" Could it be that we are sinning? That we are not doing what God has told us to do?

Complaining is often a reaction to tough circumstances. We look at the circumstances and we complain. We take our eyes off of God. We forget who is in control, and we begin to murmur, grumble and gripe. And before long we're not just complaining about what originally set us off, but we're complaining about everything.

Complaining often has at its root - UNBELIEF. Let's face it, murmuring and complaining shows ingratitude and forgetfulness for all that God has done for us in the past. Complaining is often costly. The children of Israel became discouraged and defeated and they missed out on the blessings of God. Let's not allow ourselves, our homes and  our church to be discouraged by our inability to contain our desire to complain.

We will always have complaints. We are imperfect people living in an imperfect world. We can still keep from becoming negative.

Look for ways to become part of a solution rather that part of the problem. Those who complain the loudest are usually the ones who do the least. Engage yourself in the work of the Lord rather than in complaining.

I'll end this from the book, Springs in the Valley. The writer tells of a man who found a barn which contained the seeds that Satan sows into the human heart. He found that the seeds of complaining were quite numerous, and he learned that these seeds could be made to grow most anywhere, but when Satan was questioned he reluctantly admitted that there was one place where he could not get them to grow. And where is that asked the man? Satan replied, “In the heart of a grateful man.”

Let's consider all that God has done for us, and all that God has promised us, and I believe we will complain much less.

                                                                              In Christ,

                                                                              Ray Parish, Lay Leader