For Fridays in November, I thought I would focus on complaining … the opposite of Thanks Giving …. WHAT WAS I THINKING? 🙂 Should’ve expected a chance to practice it! So what am I thankful for today .?.?.?. (trying, trying, thinking, thinking …) that God cares enough about my character to keep working on shaping into His character, no matter how long it takes. 🙂
So, this morning … complaining. I’m only going to say this: “insurance company, 18 months, on hold, merry go round music, etc, etc”. You get the picture. All I want to do is: COMPLAIN.
Good thing that I had spent time in God’s Word reflecting on how to conquer complaining. Here’s what the Lord showed me (sneaky …. He was preparing me for later).
There is POWER against Complaining in Paying Attention – When we intentionally LISTEN to ourselves, we hear the tone and content of our words. Maybe we have a tendency to complain, and we don’t even realize it. We may need to ask someone else to listen to us and give us honest feedback.
There is POWER against Complaining in Pausing – If we just slow down and take a minute (even 10 seconds) before we blurt out our gripe, we will avoid a lot of complaining. It will help us to have gentler, fewer words, words more like Christ. “He who restrains his lips is wise,” Prov. 10:19.
There is POWER against Complaining in Prayer – Like any other sin that entraps us, we have to ask God to help us overcome it. Pray for insight to “hear” yourself, for self-control, and for the wisdom to see life with a “new view” of life – God’s view. Philippians 2:5, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.” Turn your griping into gratitude.
There is POWER against Complaining in Pain – That’s right. Consider the damage done to others and to our own circumstances when we complain. Stop and think about the impact that will be caused if we let our whining fly: stress, hurt feelings, hurt testimony, stirring up conflict, confusion …. “Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark,” James 3:5 (about the tongue).
Call it what you will … Complaining, grumbling, griping, whining, grumping … the root goes back to discontentment mixed with ingratitude and pride. It’s worth tackling this Thanks Giving killer, because “now godliness with contentment is great gain,” 1 Tim. 6:6.
THANKFUL you stopped by Come Have a Peace today! Maybe next week we’ll talk about breaking the power of complaining in your children … or your marriage …. Would love to hear if there are issues of complaining you’d like to consider. But if I don’t get to yours, please don’t whine about it. 😉
You crack me up, Julie 🙂 I love your last line about not whining…it reminds me what I say to my girls all the time "whining does not work for me!". I'm looking forward to your series on complaining. Thanks for blessing me today! 🙂
P.S. One issue on complaining I'd love to consider…how do we best respond in love and truth when others are complaining???
I needed to read this about complaining, it was good for me. I try real hard not to complain but I am sure I do.
kim from mbc
Ack – I feel like God has to teach me this over and over again. One of the things that I remember Dr. Miller saying once is that complaining is really an act of rebellion against God's sovereignty – and it usually leads to bigger things. So sobering, and so true.
I'm reminded it's time to take a vacation, perhaps an extended one from complaining.
Thanks.
Libby P.
So true that we are really acting out against God's sovereignty when we fall into this trap. Libby's idea of the extended vacation is a good one … and that's a vacation that's always a good one. 🙂
Cindy, I've been thinking about your question. What a great one!