Your Grumbling could be sinful
Plenty of times the word talks about grumbling, but we would never hold it to the same degree of disdain as we do other, more heinous sins that others commit. Grumbling can be a daily removal of joy and peace in our lives. Read on to see how to handle it and what you can do if grumbling is ruining you...
“Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and
innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted
generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,” Philippians 2:14-15
Our alarm went off at 4:30 a.m. though I was already awake (as usual) several minutes before it went off. I hobbled out of bed with a sore foot from walking barefoot outside yesterday. With a stride mimicking someone attempting Tony Robbin’s fire walk, I made my way to the bathroom carrying our 7 lb. yorkie. The
morning routine was in full force. Wake up. My bathroom trip. The yorkie’s bathroom trip outside. Feed the dogs and play with them. Make my wife’s lunch. Make my wife’s breakfast. Clean up the kitchen. Eat my breakfast. Shower. Etc. Yet, this morning was different. My foot was hurting for starters. While I used the
restroom, our yorkie decided that he could not wait all of 2 minutes to go outside as usual and proceeded to urinate all over my foot and the surrounding bathroom rug. Our coonhound/lab decided to further destroy the Frisbee we bought her yesterday afternoon making it impossible to throw without scraping your fingers.
My sweet wife, in a rush to get out the door for work, reminded me that she needed to eat breakfast “now” and I did not scramble her eggs well enough. Because of seminary class tonight, I try to get to work early (so I can leave work early to study and finish classwork).This plan was shot when I noticed my wife’s cell phone sitting on the dining room table causing me to devote extra time to my morning commute so she can have her phone for the day.
I am sure the previous paragraph was exhausting. I am sure you want to slap me a time or two and quote the end of Tony Perkins’ line from Heavyweights, “Lunch has been cancelled today due to lack of hustle. Deal with it”. Why is it that we do not like hearing other people grumble but we do it ourselves? Before I proceed, I want to say that between my Britt and me, I am overwhelmingly the biggest complainer. And it was in the middle of washing my wife’s dirty dishes this morning that the Holy Spirit brought to remembrance Philippians 2:14-15. Instant conviction. This verse was followed by Arnold Schwarzenegger telling me to “stop whining”, just as he told those kids in Kindergarten Cop.
The Apostle Paul, on the heels of proclaiming the humility of our Lord Jesus Christ, exhorts us to “do all things without grumbling or disputing”. Why? Because this is our natural, autopilot response when we are walking in the flesh and not in the Spirit (not like Christ). When things do not go the way we want them to go, (1) we
can quickly begin complaining and (2) we will rationalize our behavior to justify our actions. This is what I did this morning. This type of complaining is evil and we are warned here and elsewhere in scripture to avoid such grumbling (Numbers 14:26, John 6:43, James 5:9). Yet, in spite of knowing God’s Word, I had quickly
rationalized my words because my left foot hurt, my right foot smelt like dog pee, and somebody else shot complaints at me about my “poor” performance. Call it what it is: never acceptable for the child of God. Why?
Read verse 15. The Christ follower is called to “shine as lights in the darkness” “in the midst of a
crooked and twisted generation”. Your grumbling complaints do several things, namely cause us to be in sin because it accuses God of doing wrong.
First, grumbling puts out our light that displays His strength to an unbelieving generation. “I guess your God was not strong enough to keep you from or protect you from (blank). And if He is not strong enough to keep that out of your life then He must not be strong enough to protect me either”. See the lie? The truth is that
He is strong enough. He is able. All creation is sustained by Him. Nothing is too difficult for our God who regularly does what we deem impossible. Our complaining snuffs out the light that illuminates to the world the preeminence and supremacy of our God over all things.
Second, grumbling puts out our light that displays His knowledge. Our God knows everything. The $5.00 term would be omniscience. His supreme knowledge makes the Library of Congress look like a baby’s first book of letters. John Piper once said, “He makes all of the information on the internet look like a 1940’s Farmer’s Almanac”. Yet, in all His divine knowledge, did He not know (blank) was going to happen? As a friend of mine often says, “that’s a farce!” (i.e. that’s ridiculous). Our loving God knows us better than we know ourselves and He is acutely aware of everything going on in our lives, even the future things we have not encountered. Whatever may come, be it cancer, infertility, or a forgotten cell phone, we can trust
the knowledge of our God, that His intentions are pure and purposeful, to use it for His glory, and we should choose to rejoice rather than grumble.
Last, grumbling puts out our light displaying His love. Que the song “Good Good Father” … “I am loved by You, it’s who I am”. Like an overexcited 4 year old on his birthday, our grumbling is a mixture of spit and breath that extinguishes our flame that radiates the love of God and His tender care of His children. He is not Baal who Elijah mocked on Mt. Carmel for being unconcerned (or preoccupied reliving himself) to care for his followers. We can best see His loving goodness at the cross. He willingly chose to endure the cross for us so that we may become the righteousness of God. It was through this form of punishment, reserved for the
worst of criminals, that my sin debt was paid in full and I… you... have the hope of eternal life with Christ.
Beloved, shine. This generation needs to see the light of Christ, the hope of glory, Who truly is the power living within you. We are His vessels used to illuminate the darkness of depravity and be used of God to direct lost souls to The Way, The Truth, and The Life. As I have come to more fully understand, my complaining, my grumbling, is evil, sinful and confuses an already blinded people to the truths of God’s character and nature.