Complaining?

How many times do you complain each day? How many times in a single hour? The truth is that we tend to complain a lot. But the team I went with to India was committed to not complaining and those we served with rarely complained. It was quite refreshing to realize that we don't need to complain all the time.

What does it say about us when we complain all the time? It is a sign that we are more focused on ourselves than on Christ. It shows that we aren't trusting the One who holds the world in His hands. It's easy to say that we trust God, but living it out is another story. To live like we trust Him means risking it all, if that's what He asks. To live like we trust Him means looking at the circumstances and whether they seem good or bad, not worrying about it, only taking it to Him and laying it at His feet. To live like we trust Him means laying every right to ourselves down and leaving everything to His faithful care. When we accept Him as Savior, we are surrendering our rights to ourselves, to Him. And when I say that trusting Him means we lay our rights down, I don't mean that we do our thing and looking to Him occasionally. It's full surrender, which is an act of faith. And it means that whatever we want no longer matters, all that matters is our Heavenly Father and what He wants.

One of the things that helped me most, to not complain in India, was keeping the right focus. I prayed and tried to focused on God's kingdom rather than my own. It helped a lot, to realize that I was there not for myself, but because of Him and because I wanted to serve Him. When I realized that all I needed to be concerned with was His kingdom, it put things into perspective. And that's what trusting Him is like.