Talking to Yourself

        Do you ever talk to yourself? You can either do it audibly or silently, but most of us probably talk to ourselves especially in the area of murmuring and grumbling. This usually occurs when you have been assigned a task that you really don't like to do or when you are subject to the actions of others that you cannot control. Grumbling occurs all too often even in the church where you would think that it should not be present. The Israelites grumbled and murmured in the wilderness even though God was miraculously supplying all of their needs from parting the sea, to supplying daily bread and sufficient water flowing from rocks. In spite of all this, the people still grumbled. I have been guilty of grumbling about work assignments or the actions of others that are involved in my circle of associates. You might think that grumbling is one of those natural things that takes place or that everyone is doing it so what's the harm? Philippians 2:14 says, “Do all things without murmurings and disputings:” 

       The whole second chapter of Philippians has much to say about our attitude in life and this verse speaks volumes about murmuring and grumbling. Paul's simple statement is that it needs to be put away and that one should not participate in grumbling at all. There are those times when we feel that our “rights” have been violated and so we grumble. There is usually a sense of vengeance in our grumbling toward the people who have caused us to grumble in the first place. There is that difficulty that consists of the fact that we are continually looking inward. We have our own picture of what we should be doing and who should be honoring us. We may ask ourselves what we should do instead of grumbling or how do we stop murmuring and grumbling when it is present. The focus needs to change from inward to outward when we realize that the issue is not about us, it is about Him. It is about Christ. The whole world seems to be grumbling about Christ as our focus has always been on our own personal rights and not upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 2 is well known because of the account of Who Christ is and where He was and where He went in order to save you and me. It is the account of John 3:16 showing God's love in sending His only begotten Son into the world to save sinners. He left glory to end up on a cross, crucified and paying for sins that He didn't commit. Never once did Christ grumble but He did the Father's will and became the satisfaction for the penalty for sin. We, on the other hand, will grumble at the slightest hint of infringing on our perceived rights. We will have the tendency to grumble when our parents, our boss, our professor, our pastor when they exhort us to do something that we esteem unworthy of our station in life. The simple advice of Paul is this: stop murmuring and grumbling. In contrast, we are to do all things without speaking out against it. It should be rather easy for us in these days because we have the complete Bible to guide us. We may ask the question, “How then should we live?” Don't argue with the Bible. If you are in a situation where you find yourself grumbling, then cease the grumbling. After all, it was simply stated in this passage and that should be enough. Well, you might say, “Easy said, but hard to do.” That is true, but nonetheless the exhortation is plain and that is for us to do all things without grumbling even when it is something that you don't like to do. So the next time you find yourself grumbling about something, give it to the Lord. The Lord was with you yesterday and He is with you today and He will be with you tomorrow. Praise God today for His working in our lives as we are molded into what He wants us to be.