Today was a cold day in Manhattan, Kansas. A 30-ish high, nine-degree wind chill, 20 mph wind - one can’t really argue. Needless to say, as I walked home from class this afternoon, my attitude wasn’t the best. I was wishing for the lovely fall weather we had on Tuesday, that my ear muff thingies would quit blowing off, and that my jeans were wind-proof.
I grabbed the mail as I blew into the door of my house. This month’s edition of “The Voice of the Martyrs” was among the letters and flyers. I opened the first couple pages to read about a Pakistani woman named Yasmeen. This incredible sister lived in a barn with her three small children for three years after her husband converted to Islam and divorced her. At one point, their clothes literally rotted off of them. They were only eating once a day, and the mosquitoes bit them constantly. But Yasmeen did not wish she were somewhere else, she thanked God for His provision. She prayed, “You are God. You give me help! Wherever You put me, I will thank You.”
I was so humbled and convicted by this woman’s grateful heart. My 15 minutes of discomfort as I walked from class was NOTHING compared to what Yasmeen and her children endured for three years. Yet, she praised God, and I pitied myself. Though I walked from a warm building where I get an education to a warm home where I have plenty of food and more clothes than I can wear in a day. What’s worse is my poor attitude can be evoked by even more trivial circumstances than the weather. Oh, to have a heart that rejoices in all things! That does everything without complaining!
As I was rereading that passage in Philippians 2, the importance of a joyful heart hit me hard.
Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life…
To rejoice in all things is to be set apart. It is to be light in darkness. It is to be a child of God. Is there any greater calling!?!
In examining my own heart, I realized I complain way too much; because, really, once is too much. (Although, I can assure you, one-complaint-a-day status is something to which I can only aspire.) It doesn’t matter if I get frostbite from the cold and lose limbs. It doesn’t matter if all of my teachers give me 50 assignments due Monday. It doesn’t matter if my neighbors deprive me of sleep from partying all night long. Petty or paramount, whatever it is I deem complaining-worthy ISN’T! It can’t be. I have no need to complain. I have Christ!!!
So fight, brothers and sisters! By the grace of God, fight to do all things without complaining. Fight to be a light that stands out in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. You have Christ. You need nothing else. If everything you hold dear is stripped away, you still have more than enough in Him.
May we be so saturated in the love and grace of our Savior that no matter what comes our way, this world will only see our hope and joy in Him.
WRITTEN: November 29, 2006
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