Hidden Foxes Series: Murmuring

Philippians 2:14-16

14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings:

15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;

16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.

Have you ever had a large task or project to complete with a group and it seemed that somehow you have taken on the brunt of the workload? You feel as though you are the only one with the zeal and desire to see the project through to the end, so you become frustrated that your teammates do not share that same vision. You may not say anything but you are annoyed and feel somewhat unsuccessful because of your inability to change their mindset or achieve the task at hand.

You murmur and complain about the situation, promise yourself that I am never going to work with these people again. This is a worldly example, however, I know from personal experience that this can too happen in the church. It can sometimes be easy to appear to be ‘doing the right thing’ in the church world. You attend your weekly meetings, you are faithful in your boards and memberships, you fulfill your duties. To others and sometimes even yourself, you appear to be a saint because many equate duty with fellowship and righteousness.

This is a deception, God judges and only deals with the disposition of our heart; he is not impressed with outward appearances and how righteous we or others think we are. If we do not serve with a pure heart it is nothing but lip service and vainglory that he sees. The truth of the matter is that frustration comes from a lack of trust; more importantly, it reflects a lack of trust in God. The key point in the definition of frustration is that the annoyance or distress comes from the inability to change or achieve something, but if we have truly risen in Christ what about our lives do we have control of? What are we trying to achieve other than the will of the Father?

We must examine if we are truly in agreement with God. agreeing with God means obeying him in all things and at all times. Like the scripture above states; we are called to do all things without murmuring and complaining. Even in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, we as Sons have a call and that is to be a light. This is best achieved when we trust God in all situations and completely give ourselves over to his will, this is what differentiates us from the rest of the world. So, when we are rocked from every side, when trials come, when there are occasions to stumble or become annoyed, let us not be not moved! We do not have to murmur in our heart, but rather we rejoice in Christ!