No complaining

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 2v14-15


At first glance it seems hard to imagine that God would put such an emphasis on complaining. They key to being blameless, harmless and without fault in the crooked and perverse generation. It is hard to argue with context here, that is what the passage says.

I have to thank a former co-worker named Tim for first bringing this to mind for me. We installed air conditioning systems together in Alabama. As the years went by I enjoyed the friendship and mutual growth in our Christian faith. We had many spiritual discussions. I had been to Bible college, was a little older, and had a little more experience so in most of our conversations I felt like I was speaking from a more mature point of view.

One day, in a particularly dirty and damp crawl space, I was whinging about the dark, the dirt, the bugs, the smell, the difficulty in hanging the ductwork, and so on and so on. Tim asked me to go back out to the truck and get something or other, I complained (again) and Tim replied with “Do all things without murmurings or disputings.” It was a true “touché” moment for Tim, it was done in fun, and it lightened the moment. But it had a longer impact. It got me thinking and it has been there through the years since then.

Why is this big deal? Why would God say that by doing this we will be “blameless and harmless;” that we will be the children of God without fault in this wicked world?

When we murmur and complain are we not saying that God has messed up? Are we not saying that we are not content with what He is doing? Are we not, in essence, saying that we could do a better job?

Only God and we know our hearts. On we know when light hearted bantering becomes complaining and disputing.

If we want to be the blames and harmless Christian God talks about here we need to stop our whinging about what God is doing in our lives. He still knows me, if I complain about it I am usurping His authority.