...by Doug Gamble
This text is so good for us to hear. In case you missed it, Paul says to "Do everything WITHOUT complaining or arguing." We can't quickly pass this verse without pausing to reflect the level of complaining and arguing in our own lives. Because we want to be heard or just simply because we think we are exactly right we argue. Because we are discontent and can't see the many positives in our lives we complain.
Paul says the absence of these two things in our lives will make us SHINE in a world filled with complaints and arguments. If you think about it, most news broadcasts are really a series of complaints and arguments. But if we stop and consider what Jesus did. This is the passage just before this one. If we consider who Jesus is, Lord of ALL then we will find it hard to complain.
First, we will see what Jesus went through to provide salvation for us, to make us Children of God once again. Considering what He went through we don't have much to complain about. We will let those petty complaints and arguments fade away.
Second, we will see that as Lord of All, He will make everything right that has been wronged. So for those things we can say we have been legitimately wronged in and are tempted to complain about, we don't have to let them be complaints. We can turn them into prayers. Prayer that Jesus will make them right one day. And we can have faith that He will do it.
I challenged our Hobart Campus this Sunday to drop a quarter in a jar every time they catch themselves (or someone else catches them) complaining or arguing. Likely you will watch the jar fill up with quarters. It will be a reminder (a costly reminder) of how much we do complain and a catalyst to stopping the complaints. At the end of the week, do something good with the money. Give it to a good cause or take a friend out to eat. Redeem the complaining and arguing.
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