MATTHEW 27:27-32 – “Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him. They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head. After they had mocked Him, they took the scarlet robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him. As they were coming out, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon, whom they pressed into service to bear His cross.”

THEME OF THE DAY: WHEN WE ARE TEMPTED TO COMPLAIN.  Let’s start out with a one sentence quiz – Name three common sins committed and tolerated by Christians.  If we need help, I suggest obtaining the book Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate by Jerry Bridges.  Here is what moved Bridges to write his book – “The motivation for this book stems from a growing conviction that those of us whom I call conservative evangelicals may have become so preoccupied with some of the major sins of society around us that we have lost sight of the need to deal with our own sins”.  He would list common sins like anxiety, frustration, unthankfulness, pride, impatience, anger, and a few others we would acknowledge.

Back to our quiz.  What would be your three easily committed and tolerated sins by Christians?  Here are mine – discontent, procrastination, and complaining.  Take a moment to ponder my “big three” in your own life.  All of them are easily tolerated and some might even occur daily.  And if I had to list them in priority, they would be complaining followed closely by procrastination, and bringing up the rear, discontent. Let’s briefly explore the first one – complaining.

Complaining covers much territory – weather, bodily aches, sickness, relationships, circumstances, situations, people, jobs, living accommodations, money, even churches and other Christians.  And we each may add to the list.  So, how do we bring genuine repentance and a lessening of the power of this sin into our lives?  Today’s scripture applied through Hebrews 12:1-12 – looking unto Jesus.

Walk close to Jesus before Pontius Pilate, then to the public humiliation of the Creator at the hands of His creatures, and end at the cross looking at the God-man, I mean staring at the God-man, bearing our sins and crying out to His God, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46). Such suffering. Such pain. Such emotional, physical, and spiritual trauma.  Why? Love.  Pure love for people deserving wrath.

Now why go to these places of severe suffering of our Lord?  It will silence the temptation to complain.  When we see Him suffering, how may we possibly commit the sin of complaining in anything?   And the more we think on the Lord’s sufferings without complaint, the more we shall become like Him and consistently defeat the temptation to complain.

PRAYER: Lord, forgive me when I complain about any suffering that comes into my life.

REFLECTION:  Suffering is a gift from God for it is a sign of adoption and conforming to Jesus.