New Year’s Resolutions – Resolve to Complain Less

Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.
Exodus 16:2

John Killinger told of a baseball manager who grew disgusted with his center fielder, threw him out of the game, and took the position himself. The first time a ball came toward him, it took a hop and hit him in the mouth. The second ball hit him in the head, and the third flew between his hands and struck his eye. Throwing down his glove, the manager stormed to the dugout and shouted to the center fielder, “You idiot! You’ve got center field so messed up that even I can’t do a thing with it!”

How easy to blame our problems on others. That’s essentially what we’re doing whenever we grumble and complain. The Israelites murmured from the time they left Egypt until they arrived in the Promised Land—and they often blamed Moses for their problems.

This year, resolve to practice patience and complain less. Patience comes from trusting God with the things about which we want to complain. A good new year’s resolution comes from Philippians 2:14-15: “Do all things without complaining and disputing…children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.”

A person who has a negative attitude toward himself will also be quite critical of others.
Paul Meier