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I Need a Tongue Transplant | Joni Tyner
S~ Do everything without complaining and arguing. Philippians 2:14 (NLT)
O~ Philippians is known as Paul’s joy letter. My Bible notes say that the theme of rejoicing and joy appear 16 times in 4 chapters. The observation for verse 14 is pretty clear cut. Live out my life without complaining or arguing.
A~ I think the pursuit of living a joyful life is twofold.
- Eliminate certain behaviors
- add others.
These are two that Paul says to get rid of. COMPLAINING AND ARGUING. There is NO POINT in doing either of these. Complaining doesn’t change ANYTHING!!!! Comments about traffic, weather, other people, circumstances, the list goes on and on. And…arguing. Again, I don’t think I’m a person that picks fights, but, especially with my kids, I often think I’m right about something and want to get my point across. My motivation might be to “help” them, but often by going on and on and on to get my point across.
P~ Dear Lord, I ask that Your Holy Spirit take over my tongue and brain. I need a transplant because I frequently say and think negative things. I do desire a joyful life and, for me, this can only be accomplished by eliminating these bad habits. Please give me fresh insight to even the subtle complaining and nagging I do to others. Fill me with Your words. AMEN.
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Thank you so much Karen. We always love hearing from our readers and it is a huge compliment to be told I’ve encouraged someone with my writing. The longer I read God’s Word, the more I realize the depth of my sin nature and the more I desire to mirror the image of Christ. I’m a talker and so my words (there are so many of them!!!) are often what causes me to stumble– and of course our words come from the condition of our hearts.
Thanks again for sharing your feedback. Have a beautiful day.
p.s. Do you do any SOAP journaling? Share your writing sometime!
Wow! Grateful for your insight, Joni. I stumble with these issues as well, but my eyes were opened anew by your words today. Thank you for being God’s encourager to me and I am sure to others. I love how He choose to reshape our hearts by His word and those He places around us.
Have a JOY filled day, my cyber friend.