JUDE: WEEK 2 DAY 6

Jude 1:16

16 These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.

I have to be honest, I went quite a ways into adult life without knowing or understanding that grumbling was a sin. I think I chalked it up to just being human. When God convicted me of this through His Word, I had an uphill battle! Grumbling was a habit. Not only that, grumbling was everywhere. People did it at work to bond. Family members did it to commiserate. Friends used it as a springboard for conversation. Not grumbling actually felt awkward at first; I was in a bad rut.

How about you? How does this verse hit you? Is God asking you to lay aside the habit of grumbling, or maybe it’s one of the other behaviors mentioned in today’s verse. 

Maybe it is time to stop the humble-brag you have gotten so good at; time to stop inserting yourself into conversation and subtly patting your own back. Or maybe it is time to stop complementing only when it suits you to get what you want. By the way, the people to whom you are giving false flattery can usually see right through it!

Don’t be discouraged. If you are convicted by God’s Word like I was, rejoice! He loves you and is disciplining you. It took some time to break my bad habit, but by obeying the Holy Spirit, not my natural instincts, God transformed my way of thinking and He will do the same for you.