Grumblers Anonymous

Here are a few things I have learned along the way:

1) You’re always being compared with someone so stop complaining about it.

2) When you are compared, you’ll end up looking better than some people and worse than others because there is always someone above you on the ladder and someone below you.

3) We generally envy those who seem closest to our level. A pastor with 150 people doesn’t envy Rick Warren with his 21,000 because Rick is clearly in another category. But he probably envies his classmate who pastors 250 people, gets a larger salary, and doesn’t seem to have a care in the world.

4) The most frustrating thing is to feel like you are being passed over for some positions while people you regard as less qualified are chosen over you. Or worse yet, you aren’t even considered for those positions.

5) Here is the ironic part of all of this. If you could get to know the people you envy, you would discover they envy the people who are one rung above them. So it goes.

Grumbling Under Our Breath

What happens when we play the comparison game? The answer is simple. We lose our focus on our own ministry, and we begin to grumble against the Lord. Grumbling is a particularly dangerous sin for those in the ministry. The dictionary offers these definitions for the word "grumble":

1) To show one’s unhappiness or critical attitude.

2) To make complaining remarks or noises under one’s breath.

3) To murmur or mutter in discontent; complain sullenly.

I love that second definition because we’ve all done that. We smile when we hear about the success of someone close to us. And under our breath we are saying things that we wouldn’t want anyone else to hear.

The Bible has quite a bit to say about grumbling, with the preeminent example being the children of Israel in the wilderness who grumbled against Moses and the Lord.

They grumbled because they didn’t have enough water.

They grumbled because they didn’t like the wilderness.

They grumbled because they thought Moses was a bad leader.

They grumbled because they missed Egypt.

They grumbled because they weren’t yet in the Promised Land.

They grumbled because they thought God had let them down.

"So the people grumbled at Moses, saying, ’What shall we drink?’" (Exodus 15: 24)

"The whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness" (Exodus 16:2).

"But the people thirsted there for water; and they grumbled against Moses and said, ’Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?’" (Exodus 17:3).

"All the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, ’Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!" (Numbers 14:2).

"Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer" (1Corinthians 10:10).

"Don’t grumble, brothers, against one another, so that you won’t be judged" (James 5:9).

I. How to Spot a Grumbler

If you don’t know whether this applies to you, here are three marks of a Grumbler.