Believers never complain. It is impossible to walk towards your promise and be complaining about your past. You have to slay one to enter the other. You either slay your future to remain a complainer, or you slay the complaint to enter your promise. - Alan Scott
'Believers never complain.' – These words from Alan Scott struck me. And they challenge me, not just when I think about my work situation, but generally. Why? Because as a believer it's important for me to try and walk towards my promise. Because I'm striving to hear and experience God's voice in my everyday life. And I try to listen to His advice and figure out the plan, calling and purpose He has for my life.
At the same time, I'm living in a culture where people, including myself, do complain. Quite a lot. In the business setting for example, we complain about high workload, demanding bosses, weird colleagues, or about the difficult circumstances, problems and challenges we're facing. We moan about the past, or about an uncertain future. We feel misunderstood, sometimes disappointed or frustrated. We look for favor and authority, but they don't come. We focus on the problems instead of asking Holy Spirit to show us the solutions. And then we start complaining. And get stuck in the past. But 'it's impossible to walk towards our promise and be complaining about our past'.
We have to make a decision.
1. Chase the promise.
It's a decision about changing our mindset and the way we think about our circumstances. For example: Yes, our workplaces are meant to have problems – because we are people who carry solutions ('God’s Spirit has shown us everything' - 1 Cor. 2,10). There will be misunderstandings – because people don't understand what's burning in our hearts ('Because of His Spirit we don’t think the same way that the people of this world think' - 1 Cor. 2,12). We sometimes don't feel capable, but we are supposed to change the story of where we work ('What God has planned for people who love him is more than eyes have seen or ears have heard' - 1 Cor. 2,9). God has given His promises to each of us and He wants us to chase them!
2. Choose our words wisely.
It's a decision about the way we speak. To be clear: Building trusted relationships and sharing our thoughts with somebody we can be open with is different from complaining. The bible explains it like this: 'A soothing tongue [speaking words that build up and encourage] is a tree of life, but a perversive tongue [speaking words that overwhelm and depress] crushes the spirit.' - Proverbs 15,4 (AMP). I want the tree of life, not the crushed spirit! Let's look at this:
It's very hard to speak complaint and to speak solutions.
Salt water and fresh water won't come from the same mouth. - Alan Scott
3. Love what we do.
This seems to be the hardest, doesn't it? It's about the decision to love our company, love what we do, love ourselves and the people we're working together with (also the weird ones). This is tough. But it seems to be necessary if we're looking for favor, authority and impact in other peoples' lives. Here's the truth:
You won't have authority over something you don't love. Love is a decision.
- Julian Adams
Prompt: What do you choose – the complaint, or the promise? Salt water, or fresh water? Powerlessness and insignificance, or love and authority?
