Blameless and Pure

6

"Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure ..."

- from Philippians 2:14-15

Paul puts a lot of weight on this grumbling and arguing idea, connecting it with becoming blameless and pure. He doesn't picture the mature Christian as someone who is constantly grumbling about something or constantly arguing with someone.

In theological terms, Paul is talking about both salvation and sanctification. It is unthinkable to Paul that someone could become blameless and pure and CONTINUE grumbling and arguing.

When we become followers of Christ, we become children of God. And there are certain behaviors that just are not a part of God's family.  Like a good tour guide helps someone who's in a new country by teaching them what kind of practices are normal or acceptable in this new culture, Paul is helping his friends to see what kinds of activities do and don't characterize life in the kingdom of God.

When we become followers of Christ, we enter into a new reality. There is a new me buried inside of me that Christ is drawing up to the surface. And there is a you buried inside of you that Christ is bringing to the forefront.

That new me and that new you ... that gets characterized by lots of things: love, peace, patience, joy.  This new life is both better than a life marked by grumbling and arguing and it's a part of you living out your new identity as a child of God in his great and joy-filled kingdom.

Have you seen Christ transform patterns of grumbling and arguing in your life?

What kind of difference has that made?

 


We would love to send you the "Connect Devotional" via email.

To sign up, click here: Send me the Connect Devotional 

6 Comments

great thoughts, Darin. I think what you're talking about in terms of being patient with hearing others out and simply the willingness to really take the time to engage is huge.

And the willingness to learning from others, that's a great heart-posture to cultivate that applies and helps in any number of situations/areas where we need to grow.

Great thoughts, friends! Karen I pray for peace and strength and courage to walk with Jesus through this difficult time...and for the Spirit to help you to not complain or argue in ways that would not be helpful or productive!

In my case grumbling and arguing came from immaturity, especially two sources, 1) not taking the time to make sure that I had all the information or all the relevant perspectives and appreciating enough how the other perspectives would change my view on the problem/issue and 2) not being grateful, seeing this issue/problem as worthy of my emotions/effort/time that I was putting into it compared to what I already had, had on my plate, or was a priority. Seeing more mature people respond to similar things and hearing how they handled them showed me this ungrateful or hasty mistakes. Just my $.02

To be a person who does not grumble is at the top of my list and of things that need to go...to be able to trust Jesus with the things that are so difficult that I cannot change. I have been grumblng about the problems my daughter and I are having, but I need to just stop...to pray for her and to ask God to guide me. This is a very painful time .

Hey Lana, you bring up a good point for us conflict-avoiders--that sometimes speaking our minds is a step of growth! And engaging with something rather than stuffing it down for us is a step toward genuine relating.

I think perhaps it's helpful for conflict-avoiders to recognizing that engaging with conflict is a necessary and good thing but (as relieving as it might feel) the goal is not simply to unload on people rather than avoiding!

The goal is to love people. And sometimes to get there, we have to take a sidewise step that's a little bit messy. Complaining and arguing is better than conflict-avoidance. But complaining and arguing is not the end goal. It's a stage we have to pass through to get to the healthier place of loving engagement, healthy conflict, mutual submission, finding the voice God has given us, and putting it to use in holy and loving and redemptive ways.

Great stuff, Lana, thanks for posting!

Amen....no comment necessary here....says it all.

All praise and glory to the One who makes all things new, for all who choose to make it all about Him....thank you, Jesus!!

When we were in the moving process I fell headlong into arguing. The good side of that was that I was expressing things I normally would have buried and tried to ignore. The bad side of that was that I was arguing!, not having a civil conversation about things. What you said here yesterday (and btw, sometimes it takes a day or longer for me to ponder these, so don't think just because we don't log on we aren't here with you!) about getting diverted when we prioritize being precise over being loving. Yeah, that was it. He's transforming me on this. It is making a difference--a peaceful difference--, but He isn't finished with me yet for sure.

Leave a Comment

Comments for this post have been disabled.