Who Has Control?

In today’s society, it has become commonplace to gripe, complain, and murmur about everything. The sad truth of the matter is that it has become such a habit for people that we do not even realize we are doing so. We complain about the weather, food, finances, government, others, and the list continues.

The reason why we are compelled to murmur, gripe, and complain is that we are carnal; we are allowing our flesh to have control. Even though we are saved, we often fail to let the Holy Spirit have control of our spirits. In Romans 7, Paul explained the internal conflict between the flesh and the Spirit.

If the Spirit of God lives within us because we have trusted Christ as our Saviour, yet we are consumed with murmuring, griping, and complaining, it is because we have failed to put on the mind of Christ. (Romans 7:23-25; 12:2) We are saved but are still giving place to our flesh.

The children of Israel were guilty of this very thing. They were delivered from the bondage of slavery in Egypt. They had so many reasons to be thankful, yet they earned forty years of wandering in the wilderness because of their murmuring, griping, and complaining. Their ungrateful spirits resulted in a curse—none of them, except Joshua and Caleb, were allowed to enter the Promised Land.

Obeying God’s Word will result in His blessings, but disobedience to His Word will always result in a curse. When we murmur, gripe, and complain, we are disobeying His Word. Philippians 2:14 says, Do all things without murmurings and disputings: The Bible continues this thought in verse 15 by telling us that when we refrain from murmuring and disputing, we are found blameless and our lights shine in the world. Perhaps the saddest curse that results from this disobedience is that our lights will not shine. When our lights do not shine, others may miss Heaven. Could there be a worse curse?

We live in the greatest country on Earth. We have food to eat, clothes to wear, shelter to keep us warm and safe, cars to drive, resources to meet our medical needs, and the list continues. How could we possibly have any reason to murmur, gripe, or complain? Perhaps our current national moral and economic situations are a result of our ingratitude. We can only expect it to get worse if we do not learn to put Philippians 2:14 into practice.

Once we get saved, a constant battle takes place between our flesh and the Holy Spirit. The winner is determined by which one we feed the most. We will never be able to put Philippians 2:14 into practice if the Holy Spirit is not the winner.

Matthew 15:18 says, But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart;… Our words reveal the condition of our hearts. Constant griping and complaining reveals that the flesh is in control, just as constant praise and thanksgiving reveals the control of the Holy Spirit.

You may be saved, and I hope that you are, but who has control of your spirit?

by Crystal Collingsworth

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