Are You a Cantankerous Christian?

Are You a Cantankerous Christian?<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

By Steve Cornell
"They are hard to please and quick to complain." This is what I was told about people who attend Bible conference centers and groups of Christians who frequent area restaurants. A director of a Bible conference ministry informed me that this was a common problem in his line of work. A manager of a similar ministry indicated that her experience in a secular conference center resulted in far less complaints. She said that <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />the Christians were more difficult to please and had more complaints. Another friend who worked at an area restaurant, (though herself a Christian), indicates that Christian groups have the same reputation with the waitresses where she works. Do these reports bother you as much as they do me?          
"Perhaps," you say, "the problem is that non-Christians hold Christians to an unreasonably high standard." In some cases, this is no doubt true. Yet those informing me of the problem have been Christians themselves. They have no particular axe to grind. They have simply observed a disturbing reality about the attitudes of their fellow-believers. 
At the risk of offense (which is not my intention), there is another common factor among a large percentage of the disgruntled. They are elderly and often retired. I am not sure what to make of this, but I told my wife to take me to the back yard and shoot me if I ever become a grumpy old man who is never happy with anything. Old or young, are you cantankerous and irritable or gracious and grateful?  
The main point we all need to get is that complaining is a sin. Yes, you read it correctly - sin. The scripture specifically says, "Do everything without complaining or arguing" (Philippians 2:14). Conversely, we are instructed to "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" (I Thessalonians 5:18). Ungratefulness is a lead sin in the spiral away from God described in Romans 1:21-28.   
As Christians, we have experienced such amazing grace from God that we should be overflowing with gratitude and humility. The culture tells us to demand our rights and expect the best for ourselves. Christ tells us to serve and bless others.  We should be distinguished by a gracious disposition, not a grouchy and demanding one. How can we expect people to believe our message of hope and salvation when our lives do not reflect it? 
We all have bad days when we are not the most cheerful persons. And, there are also proper ways to express disappointment with inadequate service. Yet we need to become more mindful of our witness for Christ if our attitudes are giving us a negative reputation.  
If you are a critical, crabby, and demanding person, young or old, do your best not to let people think you are a Christian. Look to the words of Jesus who said, "For who is the greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves?  Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves" (Luke 22:27).  
Steve Cornell
See also: http://thinkpoint.wordpress.com/2007/10/05/overcoming-discouragement/
 

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