Scripture
“Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.”
PHILIPPIANS 2:14-16 (NIV)
“Do everything readily and cheerfully—no bickering, no second-guessing allowed! Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night so I’ll have good cause to be proud of you on the day that Christ returns. You’ll be living proof that I didn’t go to all this work for nothing.”
PHILIPPIANS 2:14-16 (MSG)
Quotes/Color
“How do your elbows feel?”
Gary Rhodes
“How can God live inside my heart? He’s so big! He made the whole world! If he lived inside my heart, he’d stick out.”
Greg Matte
Context
Free piece of advice if you ever find yourself driving middle schoolers around in a van all day like I have found myself doing many times as a former youth associate at my church… Enforce 2 rules in your van. Hold the line with these rules like your life depends on it and do not relent. Focus on keeping them. Maintaining them with the focused intensity of 1,000 suns…
Rule #1: No complaining. No exceptions.
Rule #2: No music requests.
A Quick Note on Rule #2: No music requests
Again, valuable free advice. You will be tempted to think that you will be able to please everyone with the songs you take from the back seat. Party in the U.S.A, maybe some Don’t Stop Believing? Top it off with the most recent Disney hit? You think you know the crowd pleasers. The ones that can’t miss. But I cannot emphasize this enough… You don’t. Nothing you play could ever satisfy the random assortment of tweens in that car. Nothing. So don’t even try. Enforce the rule above with an iron fist. Play whatever you want. Hold the line. And maintain it with the focused intensity of 1,000 suns.
More importantly…
A Note on Rule #1: No complaining. No exceptions
This rule came from my Uncle Gary.
As a teen, I was pretty cool and was in a breakdance for Jesus youth choir group at church. 30-40 of us students would go on mission trips to Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, etc each summer for a number of years. We breakdanced for Jesus. Ran kid camps. And organized neighborhood outreaches in these cities. (I say “breakdance for Jesus” with the intention of that being funny – but these were great mission trips, truly. God did wonderful things on those mission trips.)
But… the hours were long. We woke up to early mornings, were on our feet all day in the heat, debriefed all together late at night and went to bed at a decently late hour. A few days of that and wear and tear would build up. We got awfully tired.
We, like the kids in the back of my van, and like all of humanity, honestly… quickly spiraled from general positivity into constant complaining in everything we did. Even though we were on mission for the Lord.
The days of this added up. And having heard enough at a certain point, my Uncle Gary (our director) started out one of our mornings (before the complaints could get started) with a new group manta to rally behind…
“How do your elbows feel?”
Your feet may be tired. You may have slept poorly. You may be hot. Who cares? Let it go and let’s focus on the positive.
“How do you elbows feel?”
The idea was this… Something is going right for you right now… Let’s let go of the negative, whatever that may be, and choose to find the positive. How are your elbows doing? No skids? No bruises? Super. That’s what we are going to focus on, then.
This was the right perspective to have in that moment on a mission trip. I think it was the right perspective to instill in my middle schoolers as I would drive around with them. And I would argue that it is certainly the right perspective to have in your everyday life, according to Philippians 4:14-16.
Application
I love the NIV translation of this scripture because it describes Christians that don’t complain as fiery exploding balls of gas surrounded by a vacuum of endless darkness… (“Stars” – vs. 15).
(A little bit dramatic. But you get the point.)
A “star”. That’s how noticeable it is to go throughout your life and not complain. You are SUPERNOVA if you do things without grumbling or complaining. You are radiant in the company of darkness. You have gravitational pull. It draws people in and displays that you are a “child of God” among a “warped and crooked generation.”
But it’s not just about not complaining. That is good on it’s own. But more than expelling a bad thing from your life, it makes space to bring in the good.
A Fiery Exploding Ball of Gas Surrounded by a Vacuum of Endless Darkness
Cutting out complaining is an action, sure. But more than just an action it is a heart posture.
The NIV translation takes the negative approach: “Do everything WITHOUT grumbling or complaining.”
- In other words – don’t do this…
The MSG translation (shield your eyes and take cover bible scholars!!!) takes the positive approach: “Do everything READILY and CHEERFULLY.”
- In other words – do this…
It’s not just cutting complaining out. Cutting complaining out is good in itself. But it takes you to a different place entirely – and that is more valuable. Cutting out complaining changes your posture. It takes you from entitled to grateful. From a drain of energy to a fountain of positivity. From rotten to a fresh touch of life.
Further using the MSG’s translation, it makes the believer a “breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society.” Even a “glimpse of good living and of the living God” for the non-believer.
It allows the non-believer to look at a Christian’s life and say, “Something is making sense there.”
If you want an opportunity to share your faith in the most beautiful and encouraging way to a non-believer… It’s not necessarily about a perfect statement about your faith. It’s about the object lesson of your life. It’s about being a fountain – and not a drain. A star – not a black hole.
If God is in your heart, he should stick out and make you a “breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society” – like a “star in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.”
Cut out the complaining and choose to find the good.
Something To Chew On:
- Do you tend to complain as a habit? “Boy it is hot out there. Brutal.” “Gosh I am exhausted today.” That kind of stuff? What is a different way you could break the ice in conversation and be a shining star of light and hope instead of a black hole of despondency and darkness?
GreatValue Proverb:
Rule #1: No complaining, no exceptions. Rule #2: No music requests.