It’s said that, on average, a person complains 30 times a day. It also feels like that is all we hear lately. We now have the world at our fingertips/keyboard and we can voice our discontent about everything. Bad service somewhere recently? No problem, I’ll fix them. I’ll mention it on a Facebook post and put up a Yelp review.
Knowing we have a voice is a good thing. But we need to be mindful because a constant stream of thoughts that are of a complaining nature or are negative observations have more consequences than we may realize.
Did you know that chronic complaining is identified in the Bible as sin and creates problems in our life? Just search Google for “Complaining quotes in the Bible” and you’ll see what I mean.
Here is one that is straightforward:
“Do not complain, brethren, against one another, so that you [yourselves] may not be judged. Look! The Judge is [already] standing at the very door. – James 5:9
It’s just so easy to complain. There are so many things out of our control, it is natural to want to complain about them. Politics and political correctness, guns, crime, violent incidences – the list goes on. As human beings in 2019, we are becoming trained to observe and receive a huge amount of negative information that we take in and then reinforce by complaining.
The problem with complaining is it becomes a slippery slope to making judgments which inevitably leads to more complaining and a general sense of negativity. And this is what that scripture is talking about in James 5:9 above. As soon as we complain against each other, we are quick to judge that person’s behaviors because we are in disagreement with them. But we need to be careful about how we feel inside because we are activating our inside vibrations and like attracts like (Law of Attraction).
When we complain we are activating that vibration of discontent. And once those emotions are rolling around our body, our thoughts get quickly aligned to more things that MATCH that feeling you are experiencing. Old, sometimes hurtful memories will surface that somehow resonate with the discontented feeling at the moment. We open the door to a potential downward spiral. Who needs that?
I find myself in a position at the moment where no matter what decision I make, I will be judged by my choices. And boy do I feel like complaining about the situation, but it is mine to own.
So given that, what are my choices? To pray, and pray a lot. Cast my care on God. The scripture at the top indicates to not grumble and fault-find, and not to self-doubt which I catch myself doing. I should also take a closer look at my motives. Am I listening… or better yet hearing…what my Holy Spirit is telling me?
This is the consequence of complaining spiritually. If you find your situation doesn’t improve, then you need to revisit what you are thinking about and ask God for help. In these testing times, prayers may take a very long time to be answered because we are so busy thinking that we are drowning out our inner voices.
Speak up, Holy Spirit. I can’t hear you all that well.
My self doubts are drowning you out.
So right about now I cast my care on God because I really don’t have the answers. And recently when I’ve prayed, I’ve just heard the message to “wait”. And nothing makes me want to complain more than waiting around for something.
So pray with me, that I can wait patiently, with a good attitude and without faultfinding or complaining. This is truly an eye of the needle moment – which means taking the more challenging, narrower path but is still right road.
I will also pray for you too, for whatever you may need this day. Thank you in advance.
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