Are you complaining? Have you been complaining? Are you arguing? Have you, now while reading this, begun to argue, with yourself or someone else, about whether or not you have been complaining? Well, welcome to the club! I mean, some people start to argue when they are caught complaining. Surely, I jest, right? Nevertheless, if you really want to know if you complain or how regularly you complain, just ask someone who spends significant time with you. Note: If you want an honest answer, you must offer them emotional immunity in their response; promise not to complain or argue, when they respond! It seems to me if you have to go over the note part of this more than once, there is a good chance you do not even have to ask them, just mark it down – you complain.

Well, you say, everyone else complains, why do I have to be the only one who does not complain? To this, I say, in honor of the recent Mother’s Day, remember the words of your mother: If everyone else is jumping off a bridge, does that mean you have to join them? We are all guilty to some extent of complaining, and probably most of us are guilty of arguing, if not arguing about complaining or complaining about arguing!

Perhaps, we fail to realize that, when we are complaining or arguing, we are telling the world around us that being in Christ is of no real advantage to us. We are showing them that the encouragement we have from being united with Christ, the comfort we have from His love, the fellowship we have with His Spirit, and the tenderness and compassion He affords us is of no real value to us, and, worse yet, it is of no value to them (Phip 2:1–2). The world around us understands the darkness and hopelessness expressed in complaining and arguing, but what they are longing for is a ray of hope, a beam of light that reflects to them God’s glory, not more darkness! What they are desperate to see, to hear, and to know is a life that is different from their own! They want to see someone find victory over this world (1 John 5:4)! So, I pray for us, so that we might have a love that abounds more and more in knowledge and depth of insight (Phip 1:9). Then, we can do everything without complaining or arguing, becoming blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which we shine like stars in the universe (16) as we hold out the word of life — (Phip 2:14 – 15). Without complaining and arguing, we will be the brightest of people in this dark world, for God’s own glory!

 

Peace,

Jay Don

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