by Pastor Lem Niere
“Do all things without complaining and disputing that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world…” Philippians 2:14, 15.
Life never seems to go the way we imagine it will in our heads. No matter the effort we put into preparing our day-to-day lives, unforeseen circumstances can leave us feeling frustrated and irritated.
Many of us have believed the lie that Christians won’t have troubles.
But Jesus tells us plainly in John 16:33, “… In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
We will have problems. The question is what we do when we face obstacles.
In Philippians 2, Paul writes that we are to have the same mindset as Jesus. Jesus’ life was full of difficulty. Jesus had every reason to complain but never did. And even though Jesus was divine in nature, He never used His equality with God to His advantage. He humbled Himself and took the position of a servant.
“In Jesus we find embodied the self-giving of God to persons and the self-giving of a person to other persons. Jesus is the Lord who is servant and Jesus is the servant who is Lord” (Thomas A. Langford, Christian Wholeness).
Keeping that in mind, think about the things we complain about:
Why is the traffic messing up my schedule?
Why can’t they ever get my order right?
Why didn’t they give me the promotion, or even thanked me?
Could pride be at the root of some of our complaints?
Jesus didn’t deserve the pain He endured, yet He never once protested. That kind of behavior gets someone’s attention. Can you imagine if we all did the same?
If we do, we would stand out among our peers as “lights in the world” (verse 15). As we choose to humble ourselves, taking on an attitude of gratitude instead of grumbling, we point people toward our Father.
Jesus came to bring people to His Father. When He left, He challenged us to do the same. As we choose to humble ourselves, taking on an attitude of gratitude instead of grumbling, we point people toward our Father.
Reflect on these:
What is one thing you have grumbled about this past week?
How could gratitude and humility change your attitude toward that situation?