Stop Complaining And Start Gaining

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Do everything without complaining...
Philippians 2:14

Two groups of psychology students were wired for recording purposes, and assigned a period to socialise freely. One group knew the experiment would measure the level of complaining in normal conversation; the other group did not. Afterwards, both groups were shocked by how frequently they complained. The group in the know complained almost as much as the group unaware of what the experiment was aiming to achieve. It's the oldest response in the book - literally! Confronted with our choices and actions, we spontaneously start complaining: 'It was their fault, not mine; If they hadn't... I wouldn't have.' Adam needed no lessons in the art of complaining. Caught red-handed, he told God, '..."The woman whom You gave... me, she gave me... and I ate." ...the woman [Eve]... said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate" ' (Genesis 3:12-13 NAS).

Neither accepted responsibility for their choices. And since God doesn't help people who won't be responsible, He threw the complainers out of Paradise. If they ever subsequently 'got it' regarding complaining, they didn't transmit it to their offspring, Israel: 'Now the people complained... in the hearing of the Lord... his anger was aroused. Then fire... consumed... the outskirts of the camp' (Numbers 11:1 NIV). Notice, all complaining is 'in the hearing of the Lord', and He clearly doesn't want to hear it! Paul writes, 'Do not complain as some of them did; they were killed by the angel that destroys. The things that happened to those people are examples... written down to teach us...' (1 Corinthians 10:10-11 NCV). Clean up your verbal act! Decide to detect, reject and eject all complaining from your vocabulary.

Used with permission from UCB Word for Today. Free issues are available here for the UK and Republic of Ireland.