I can whine with the best of them. In fact, in the midst of reading my passage and praying about it just 3 minutes ago, the thought, "Seriously. Why? Why can't I just have a few minutes of peace?" rolled through my head as I heard a baby (who is supposed to be sleeping) cry.
Then I re-read the passage I was on for today and God ever-so-gently smacked me on the side of the head.
I think it is hilarious that God has a sense of humor. Heck, He has to have a great one in order to put up with our shenanigans every day. I find it funny as well to see Paul's sense of 'humor' in my passage today in 1 Cor. 4:8-13. He is basically mocking the Corinthians, who seem to be boasting about what they have and how they live.
Paul kind of shoves it back in their face as he calls them kings, even though they are, by the standards of their time, poor. Then Paul explains to them how he lives and what his life as an apostle is like.
He is hungry, thirsty, dishonored, in rags, homeless and brutally threatened, yet proclaims the message of Christ with all his heart. And these people think they have it all.
The Corinthians my be bragging about what they had and Paul is setting them straight, but how much more do I have than any of them and still whine?
Where does whining get us? Does our displeasure with life's circumstances please the heart of God? Why do I deserve a few minutes of peace? Does God not use me in the midst of chaos in my home and teach me how to be the peacemaker through Him? If I give in to the whines, and thinking I am better that what I am currently being served, I throw off the entire balance and mood of my home and those around me.
Bragging about our circumstances when we are better off than those around us doesn't gain us any friends, and whining about what we lack or think we deserve does not gain us glory. Stopping to trust God in plenty and in want, knowing that even though we might not agree with our current plight, doesn't mean that God doesn't have our best interest in His heart. It just means we haven't yet been lead to the knowledge of what that best interest will turn out to be.
Where do you find yourself boasting and/or whining the most? Is there possibly something God is trying to teach you through these things?
Father, help me stop living in a sense of entitlement. I deserve none of what I have been given and never stop to thank you enough for any of it. You are the One True God and you know the ways of my heart even before I do. Help me put my trust in you through it all. Help me be 'joyful in hope, patient in affliction and faithful in prayer'. It is only in these things, rested in you that I can truly find peace.
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