Whining or Winning

Do everything without grumbling and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world.
(Philippians 2:14-15 HCSB ©®)

Nor should we complain as some of them did, and were killed by the destroyer. Now these things happened to them as examples, and they were written as a warning to us, on whom the ends of the ages have come.
(1 Corinthians 10:10-11 HCSB ©®)

Complaining is a very different pursuit from asking for help, or asking for clarity or direction or healing. When Jesus’ mother asked Gabriel “How can this be?”, she meant something different from what John’s father meant when he asked the same messenger what sounded like the same question.

A major difference in the fact that a statement or question is a complaint or not is based on whether it is created or energized by doubt or by faith. Faith expects an explanation or a path of forward motion or freedom in response. Doubt is just registering an opinion or a request for credit for misery and pain, or bringing accusation regarding the source of the misery and pain.

Faith is not the only fruit of the Spirit that can enable the shift from complaint to dialog that leads to victory and freedom.