Leave Out the Complaining

“Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!” – James 5:9 Yesterday, I encouraged you not to partner with the devil in condemning others. Many of us have a lot of experience with criticizing, condemning, and complaining, which can actually worsen behavior. Can we also take a moment to pause our own complaining? While many Christians readily engage in condemning and criticizing, we often overlook how much we complain. Complaining serves as a passive-aggressive way of condemning someone or something. It’s easy to find ourselves complaining about trivial things like the carpet, the food, our spouse, or our neighbors. We all do it.We all know someone—a friend, relative, or coworker—who complains frequently. Ironically, when we find ourselves thinking about their complaints, we end up complaining in our minds as well. It’s easy to fall into this pattern. If