Chapter 11: Emptying “Grumbling” In the previous chapter, we looked at the life of emptying ourselves of sexual immorality and wrongful desires and turning our love back toward God. Now, in Chapter 11, we will look at another problem that easily settles into our hearts and onto our lips. It is a grumbling heart. As we go through life, there are many moments when we grumble. “Why did this happen to me?” “Why does that person treat me this way?” “Why is my family going through such a difficult time?” “Why is the church like this?” “Why did God allow this?” Even when we do not speak these words aloud, we may repeat them countless times in our hearts. But in the Bible, grumbling is not merely a matter of uttering a few complaints. Grumbling can change the direction of our gaze, cause us to forget God’s grace, and even change the way we look at people and circumstances. Therefore, ...
Death is not the end “So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. … In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' ” (Acts 20:31, 35) As I meditate on the word of God, I have a view of life that God the Holy Spirit is planting in my heart. One of those views on life is that people come to dust and return to dust. In other words, the perspective that God the Holy Spirit instills in my heart through the word of God is the perspective of death. Look at the Bible Ecclesiastes 7:2 – “It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of every man; the living...