A note on complaining . . .

I am often annoyed by people who complain about the heat in April or the cold in October. The fact is it gets hot every year and it gets cold every year; I've been around for a while, and I can't see why it surprises so many, year after year. I ran across this story while reading Theodore Roosevelt's autobiography, which I think illustrates the folly of complaining perfectly.

The following is taken from "The Autobiography of Theodore Roosevelt":
There was a very hot spell one midsummer while I was police commissioner, and most of each night I spent walking through the tenement-house districts and visiting stations to see what was being done. It was a tragic week. We did everything possible to alleviate the suffering. Much of it was heart-breaking, especially the gasping misery of the little children and of the worn-out mothers. Every resource of the Health Department, of the Police Department, and even the Fire Department (which flooded the hot streets) was taxed in the effort to render service. The heat killed such multitudes of horses that the means at our disposal for removing the poor dead beasts proved quite inadequate, although every nerve was strained to the limit. In consequence we received scores of complaints from persons before whose doors dead horses had remained, festering in the heat, for two or three days. One irascible man sent us furious denunciations, until we were at last able to send a big dray to drag away the horse that lay dead before his shop-door. The huge dray already contained eleven other dead horses, and when it reached this particular door it broke down, and it was hours before it could be moved. The unfortunate man who had thus been cursed with a granted wish closed his doors in despair and wrote us a final pathetic letter in which he requested us to remove either the horses or his shop, he didn't care which.

Hopefully, this account will encourage us to be kinder, and do a little less grumbling.

The fruit of the Spirit . . . Temperance

This final installment is temperance or self-control. The Greek word is egkrateia (egg-kra-teh-ee-ah), which oddly enough means self-control. It is not an accident that we would end up here. There is so much involved in being a good friend, a good sibling and ultimately a good Christian. Not all of us bear the burden, but some of us do, of saying what is needed over what is wanted. It seems that many are all too happy to surround themselves by those who tell them what they want to hear, and the fastest way out of that circle of friends is to say something they don't want to hear. Scripture is replete with examples of those who delivered a message that was necessary, but unwanted. We not only say what those we love need to hear, we endure and forebear when those whom we love say things that cut us to the quick: knowing their faith and the God who is working in them, we anxiously await the person they are becoming.

Let us come to a right understanding, this Christian life will not bear fruit based on a model of happy accidents. It is God Who is at work in us, and he gave us eyes and ears, hands and feet and mouths and hearts, so that we may be engaged in the lives of others, while we are surrendered to His will, in order that we may bear fruit, not only in our life, but in the lives of others. We are not Taoists, we do not subscribe the nonsense of action through inaction. We love and we get hurt and we continue to try because it is the love of Christ that constrains us to be involved in the lives of others. We do not just say "whatever" to the hurts and trials of the ones that we love.

The key here is that we are engaged in work. A co-laborer with Christ, and it takes self-control. How do we get up day after day and feed our spirits, when frankly, we'd rather watch cartoons? Answer: self-control. How do we get involved and help someone who is hurting, when it is easier and less messy to simply turn our feet in a different direction? Answer: self-control. How do you keep from drawing your sword and handing someone their head after they have wounded you? Answer: self-control. You see self-control is the very element that turns a would-be rebellious life into a living sacrifice, and when we become a living sacrifice, then others will see Christ living in us.

The fruit of the Spirit . . . Meekness

Both the NASB and NIV translate this word as gentleness, and the King James as meekness. The Greek word is prautes (pra-oo-tays) carries more meaning than either of these terms convey. It is that attitude of spirit we accept God's dealings with us as good and do not dispute or resist. Prautes is not readily expressed in English, (since the term "meekness" suggests weakness), but it is the condition of mind and heart which demonstrates gentleness, not in weakness, but in power. It is a balance born in strength of character.*

David's dealing with Saul illustrate this concept very well. Saul loved David, when he saved his kingdom. A little shepherd boy with only a bag of rocks and a sling (or so Saul thought), but when God exalted David, Saul then despised the boy he professed to love. Saul despised David so much that he wanted him dead, and tried repeatedly to kill him. So this is where meekness comes in, David was faithful to Saul, even though Saul had tried to kill him. He respected the position God had given him. David remained faithful to Saul; so much so, that he had the man killed who ended Saul's life at Saul's request, because the man had killed God's anointed. Now ask yourself, did David have the power to overcome Saul? Absolutely, he cut his robe, which meant that he was close enough to kill him; but at the very core of his strength was a deep respect for the workings of God. So to put the illustration of meekness into perspective; David, the warrior, who knew what it meant to be drenched in blood on the battlefield, with a kingdom to gain, would not touch King Saul, who had tried repeatedly to kill him: not because he lacked strength, but because God had anointed him. David's power was restrained because he both understood and accepted that Saul was God's business, not David's.

For further reading: I Samuel 24

* Taken from "The Complete Word Study Dictionary."