I have to admit that there are times when I am tempted to complain but that hasn’t been the case for quite a while now. My life isn’t perfect; it has it’s up’s and down’s however, my God is perfect!
And He loves me!
As I was making the morning coffee my head filled with song by singer/songwriter Dottie Rambo:
He left the Splendor of Heaven
Knowing His destiny
Was the lonely hill of Golgotha
there to lay down His life for me.
if that isn’t love
the ocean is dry
there’s no stars in the sky
and the sparrow can’t fly
if that isn’t love
then Heavens a myth
there’s no feeling like this
if that isn’t love
Gratitude spills over into everything we do when we focus on the truth of God’s love. There is one reason and one reason only that Jesus left heaven and came to earth. That reason is His love for us!
Complaining causes us to lose focus of what is good. It can be a downward spiral. How many of you have heard these words?
“The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.” I Corinthians 10:13 NLT
Paul was giving instruction to Christians about the example they had received from their fore fathers who had murmured and complained in the wilderness. They had seen all of God’s power when He delivered them from Egypt; crossing the Red Sea; living under the pillar of cloud by day; eating manna from heaven; drinking water from a rock and still they complained and rebelled.
So, now Paul is giving strong admonition to the Christians in Corinth. Don’t let the temptation to complain and murmur about your circumstances cause you to stray from the Lord. God is faithful and He will provide a way of escape. Don’t be confident in your own abilities because when you do, you will fall but be confident in Christ and what He has done for you.
This is a good word for today. How many times a day do we find ourselves complaining about something? How many times are we trusting in our own strength and not His?
We should remind ourselves of how the Lord has been faithful in the past. Remind ourselves that we are the reason He left heaven. This should keep us from complaining about the present or worrying over the future!
We have His promise that He will never leave us or abandon us. Now that’s love!