Culture of Complaining
5 min read
8 Moses also said to Korah, “Now listen, you Levites! 9 Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the Israelite community and brought you near himself to do the work at the LORD’s tabernacle and to stand before the community and minister to them?”
Numbers 16:8-9
In the second semester of my Christian History class, we had to do some research that involved original sources—in other words, direct translations of original documents. (The Bible contains original sources.)
I came up on this document from the middle ages written by a monk, when monasteries were all the rage. And this monk was making a commentary of other monks he had observed who have a habit of constantly complaining about this, that, or the other thing. From the middle ages!
The monk actually gave it a name. I believe he called it acidie. I couldn’t find the original source that I had used, but I will be sure to update this post once I find it. (OK, and maybe the occasional complaining I encounter in ministry tied all these things together.)
Anyway, the complaining of the Levites reminded me of that blog (which is what it would be called in today’s terms) written by that monk.
When you think about it, there are two positive aspects about complaining. First, complaining often indicates that a person cares. Not all the time, but often. Second, complaining often highlights areas in a ministry that might be improved. Not all the time, but often.
As we grow in spiritual maturity, we learn to receive and to give “complaints” more wisely. In terms of receiving, we learn to discern the positive critique in the complaint. We also learn to acknowledge the concern of the complainer. But we also learn to graciously fight the rebellious and judgmental heart that is often the motivation behind the complaining. Not all the time, but often.
In terms of giving, we learn to focus on the goal of glorifying God. And when it comes to sharing life in Christian community, we learn that glorifying God requires (1) keeping our eyes and hearts focused on Jesus, (2) exercising humility, and (3) becoming better readers of God’s word.
And with respect to the topic of giving “complaints” wisely, the main outworking of focusing on the goal of glorifying God is prayer. Prayer solves everything. All the time, everything.
Our indoctrination into this world will have us find problems for which we need to find solutions. Our indoctrination into God’s word will have us recognize that the problem is always sin and that the solution is always Christ.
Making that principle real in our lives pretty much summarizes our journey of faith and spiritual growth.
