Moments Together for Couples 10/15

by Dennis and Barbara Rainey

Philippians 2:14
Do all things without grumbling or disputing.

Do you ever get annoyed with the complaining around your house? I do. Over the years the rooms of the Rainey household have resounded with gripes about:

Who gets to sit where at the dinner table;

Who gets to sit in the front seat on the way to school or church;

Toilets that aren't flushed;

Toys that populate the floor;

Tubs littered with dolls, boats, bottles and melting bars of soap;

Who has to clean up the dishes;

Whether the food for (pick your meal) looks, feels or tastes appetizing.

It became so bad one year that we all memorized Philippians 2:14: "Do all things without grumbling or disputing." That helped.

Like sulfuric acid, complaining can eat away at whatever it splashes on. Complaining corrodes joy and dissolves good attitudes. Spiritually, it's dangerous and deadly.

If you have a problem with grumbling, you're not alone. The Old Testament book of Numbers could easily be renamed "The Grumbler Chronicles." The children of Israel grumbled against Moses, Aaron and God. They didn't like manna, so they complained: "Manna for breakfast, lunch and dinner! Is this all we get, this manna?"

So God gave them quail instead. They had quail boiled and broiled until they were sick of it.

Can you empathize with them? A little complaining is understandable, isn't it?

But the complaining by the children of Israel wasn't a trivial matter, and God didn't view it lightly. He had delivered them from Egypt and was providing for them daily. They were just plain ungrateful.

I wonder what we would find if we performed open-heart surgery on a complainer. Exploratory surgery would reveal that grumbling can be a form of heart disease, rebellion against authority. It also shows a loss of perspective, a failure to remember Who is in control. It's an attitude that questions, "Does God really know what's best for me?"

Prayer:

If appropriate, have each family member specifically confess the sin of grumbling, and in prayer give thanks to God for at least three things.

Discuss: What are you trying to do when you grumble and complain? What are your children trying to do when they gripe?

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