Turn Complaining Into Gratitude

A few years ago, I was returning to the US from France and ran into some trouble at the airport. The airline company I used was stringent on baggage weight and weighed both checked and carry-on baggage at the check-in counter.

However, unbeknownst to me, they had changed policy and begun weighing carry-on luggage before going through security. And when an agent weighed my carry-on, it was overweight. My options were to either remove some items or pay an overweight fee.

I had no money to pay for the required fee. And as my sister had already left, and I had no means to contact her, removing items meant throwing them away.

While I was silently wondering what to do, I noticed a few other people encountered the same problem and were decidedly not happy about it. They were complaining, yelling at the agent and making a scene. The agent, obviously aggravated by their complaints, thanked me for my good behavior and rewarded me by letting me through.

I was beyond grateful and glad that for once being quiet and shy helped me. And I learned a valuable life lesson that day: complaining doesn’t help!

As Christians, we know we shouldn’t complain, Paul even instructed us to do everything without grumbling (Phil 2:14). But most of us do it anyway. Complaints flow so effortlessly from our mouths that we might not even notice it and take it seriously. Lord knows I have done my fair share of complaining.

But complaining is a sin, and we have to stop it because God hates it! If you want to know how serious He is about it, take a look at the story of the children of Israel.

In Numbers 11:1, the Israelites began a complain campaign that angered God. As a result, He sent fire in the camp and only relented when Moses prayed (Numbers 11:2).

Nevertheless, the Israelites didn’t learn the lesson and kept on complaining and rebelling against God for three more chapters. And in Numbers 14:26, God had about enough of their complaints. He punished them and declared, “the carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness.” (Numbers 14:29 NKJV)

God hasn’t changed, if complaining aroused His anger some 6000 years ago, it still does today. And if He punished the Israelites because of it, He can also discipline the church; for God chastens whom He loves (Hebrews 12:6).

But before completely swearing off complaining, it’s important to know that not all complaining is a sin. If that were the case, then it would seem the Bible encourages us to sin. After all, the books of Job, Lamentations, and Psalms are saturated with complaints.

But the complaining of the Psalmists is different than that of the Israelites.

In the former, the complaints are to God, but in the latter, they are about God. In the former, the complaints come from a posture of humility, while in the latter, a position of pride. Hence the problem with complaining isn’t so much what we say, but to whom we say it and how we say it.

When you read the Psalms, you can see the psalmist always addressed God with their sorrows and griefs. They humbly sought His help without insinuating they deserved better and still acknowledged God’s goodness and lovingkindness. This kind of complaining or lamenting is not a sin. God wants us to come to Him with our sorrows, and He invites us to cast our worries on to Him because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7).

On the other hand, when the Israelites complained, it was a sin. They didn’t come to God with their problems but grumbled among themselves. They weren’t humble; instead, they questioned and despised God’s decision. This complaining or rather grumbling is the one to be avoided at all costs.

First, it shows a lack of gratitude because everything we have comes from God (James 1:17), and every complaint is toward something He has given us. The tragic truth is that some of the things we are complaining about today are the things we were praying for yesterday. In our grumbling, we take God’s gifts for granted and disobey His will of not always giving thanks (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

Secondly, complaining is a lack of reverence. It’s a way of saying, God is not doing a good job running things, and if it were up to us, we would do a better job. It might sound extreme, but in essence, that’s what we tell God every time we complain against Him.

So how do we stop complaining? Well, I have been working on eliminating complaining from my speech, and from my experience, merely trying not to complain doesn’t work. It’s like telling yourself not to think about something; you will inevitably think about it.

A better way is by cultivating a heart of gratitude and praise for the Lord and renewing our minds by taking every thought captive and making it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). And this is done by transforming your complaints to gratitude! Here is a practical example of how it works.

One day, I was driving during rush hour, and the traffic was terrible. So naturally, I complained about it. But instead of scolding myself for complaining and telling myself not to complain, I started thinking about it and searched for what I could be grateful for instead.

I had a car, and it was in good condition; I could afford all the cost related to it like gas and insurance, I was sitting comfortably with music, and AC. What was a little traffic compared to all that? Pondering about my blessings made me grateful, praise God, and gave me such joy I didn’t mind the go slow anymore. Every time I am in traffic, I remember that day, and it prevents me from complaining.

As refreshing as that exercise was, I haven’t been good at doing it consistently. But I sincerely want to make gratitude and praise a habit, so for this new month, I invite you to join me in a “turn complaining into gratitude” challenge.

The challenge is quite simple. Get a small notebook or journal, at the end of each day, write down every complaint you have about the day. Don’t hold back, spill it all out on paper. Afterward, list the things you should be grateful for instead and praise God for His blessings and goodness.

If there are days, you have no complaints, excellent! Jot down things you are grateful for that day and praise God for His blessings and goodness. As we are creatures of habits, if we keep doing it, I think we will retrain our minds to thank God as default rather than complaining.

I will be doing this challenge and will share my experience at the end of the month. If you do participate, please share yours in the comments or via email. I would love to hear them!

I look forward to honoring God with my thoughts and words this month, and I hope you will too.

Grace and peace to you!

Note: I quite enjoyed the little challenge! I admit I didn’t finish with the 30 days because I have trouble journaling consistently. But the two weeks I completed the challenge faithfully were quite beneficial. It made me appreciate and be thankful of things that I wouldn’t have thought of. Also, it put me in a good mood everyday as I made my entries in the morning, and made less prone to complain.