In one of his teachings, my friend, Dr. Keith Pettus, wrote, “Never complain about what you have the power to change.” This got me to thinking about how easy it is to complain about life, or our circumstances, or what is happening in the world around us. We hear a lot of complaining and we are often all too ready to join in. As I thought about this, I asked myself what I have complained about lately. The answer was longer than it should have been. The distinguishing characteristic of my complaint list was that, for most of it, I had not even considered what I might do to change the things about which I complained. Philippians 2:14 (NLT)says, “In everything you do, stay away from complaining and arguing,”
Complaining is symptomatic of carnal emotions. These emotions can steer you away from the discernment and understanding God has given you. If allowed to, complaining will give you a false comfort. It does this by replacing your desire to change the situation with a contentment simply to whine and grumble. What have you been complaining about recently? This is a dangerous question, because when you consider it, the Holy Spirit might just show you the answer. Then, He also might ask, “What are you willing to do to change things.”