WARNING: DEADLY OUTBREAK by Tammy Glover

“Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life…” Philippians 2:115-16 NIV

It starts off small, a slight grumbling in the pit of your stomach. Then, your heart starts pounding. You can’t stop tapping your foot on the floor or drumming your fingers on the desk. Your cheeks become flushed. Your blood pressure rises.

It’s an airborne virus and it rapidly spreads from one person to another. Many people don’t know they have contracted it until it’s too late. If left untreated it can lead to depression, isolation, cardiovascular disorders, weakened immune system and possibly death.

Few people recognize the seriousness of this virus and too many people don’t even know it exists. It’s called Chronic Complaining. You might know someone afflicted by this. This person won’t realize that they have it. They will read this and start complaining about all the people that they think should read this.

Please, don’t get mad at me. I know we all get frustrated and complain about things to vent. I’m guilty of it too. However, complaining becomes a problem when the first thing out of your mouth, after you say hello, is a complaint. It’s a problem if the only things that come out of your mouth are complaints. It’s a problem when your complaining outweighs your praising.

Have you ever noticed when one person in a room starts complaining about something, everyone in the room ends up joining in shortly after? The next thing you know the whole group is complaining and angry about everything. The room fills up with a suffocating negative energy that remains long after the complaining stops. There is nothing positive about complaining–it only stirs up anger, causes people to become stressed out and it takes the focus off of finding a possible resolution.

As believers, we’re supposed to be spreading encouragement. We’re supposed to bring light to the darkness not add to it. Can you imagine the good that could be accomplished if instead of focusing our energy on complaining, we focused it on finding the solution? There would be no stopping us.

There is no problem in this world that God does not already have the solution to. So, next time you feel like you’re coming down with a case of Chronic Complaining, stop, take a breath and ask yourself if complaining will help the situation or add to the chaos. Never let your complaining outweigh your praising.