“Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticize you.”

And then there is arguing.  It starts with complaining and then spreads to arguing. Arguing has almost become sport-like these days. We enter into them as if we are gladiators, readying to slay.  And, for the smallest of reasons that in most cases, we personally have no control over.  Sometimes, it is like we can’t help ourselves and we find ourselves in the midst of an argument that later we can’t even remember what we were arguing about. I fear that in these days of technology enabled anonymity and shielding that we are rewiring our brains to lead with the argument first and listening and reasoning, second. It is a good place to do a self-evaluation of the past week.  How many times did we enter an argument (big or small….online or live) and to what purposes did the argument serve?  And then, what could we have done differently to have avoided or controlled ourselves to not have entered the fray?

Arguing is not a God trait.  If it was, then Paul would have not said we shouldn’t do it. Let’s consider the source on this one.  Paul was no wallflower.  He was more than the opposite.  He took and gave it hard in life, but if he was considered by others to be a “complainer” or an “argue” then his words in the letter to the Philippians would have come across as hypocritical, which as we know they didn’t. So, Paul figured out how to have a strong POV without being a complainer or an arguer.  Wow.  That rocks me when I think how skilled and deft he must have been and inspires me to be better. I hope it does you too!

Reference: Philippians 2:14 (New Living Translation)