Are you a complainer?

Do you know someone who is always complaining? Are you a complainer? In 1 Corinthians 10:10, a stern warning is given: “We must not complain, as some of them did (referring to the children of Israel of old) – and they were destroyed by the Angel of Death.” (GNB) Due to the negative complaining, the Death Angel destroyed them. Literally this means that negative complaints are an invitation for evil to plague your life. It is like a welcome mat to Satan. Demons are just drawn to that kind of attitude. On the other hand, praise repels demonic forces. If you utter praise from your lips, demons will not come close. They hate it. They stick their old, pointed fingers in their old, nasty ears and their old, pointed tails between their legs and run from people who praise the Lord. Negative complaining produces an atmosphere conducive to evil. Negative complaining is like a sickness. It affects your health. Some people will complain about everything. The story is told about an old farmer who always complained about everything. “Got a new plow,” he said, “Oh, it’ll just get rusty.” It rained for his crops, “It will probably rot out the roots.” He just complained about everything. So his hunting buddies got together and said, “We’re going to find something he can’t complain about.” So, they trained this hunting dog to walk on water. One day, they went duck hunting. Boom! Boom! They killed two ducks and they said, “He won’t be able to complain about this.” They sent the dog out across the top of the water, grabbed the ducks, and back to the boat he came. They looked at the old, negative farmer and said, “What do you think about that?” The farmer said, “Old dog never learned to swim did he?” Some people are negative about everything. This isn’t the attitude we as followers of Christ should have. What should we do if we find ourselves with a complaining attitude? Eph. 4:23-29 gives us the answer: “Let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy ... Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.” (NLT)