Do you desire to stand out? Do you like to have people point at you and say, “she is a wonderful person”? Have you thought about it? Have you taken steps to make it a reality? Do you know what steps you need to take?
Even if we are not a person who seeks the spotlight, we often desire a good reputation. We want people to say what a wonderful person we are. We may even want our great personality pointed out publicly. And too often we do not work at making it a reality.
What must we do to cause people to say good things about our personality? First, we must work at it. We must recognize we are broken—all of us. We are born into a sinful world. We are inundated with sinful examples of behavior. To become a person with a reputation of being cheerful, thoughtful, and generally good requires us to make a conscious effort toward that goal every day.
The Apostle Paul tells us to stop our grumbling. Well, that is not easy! Take inventory of the number of times you grumble in a day. We complain about the weather. We complain about our jobs. We complain about our siblings. We complain about our spouses. We complain about our parents. We complain about just about everything. To stop grumbling means we must change our attitude and outlook on life.
He goes on to say we must stop arguing. Now, do not mistake that for rolling over and allowing others to mistreat you. We can have healthy debate. In fact, healthy debate is something our culture has lost over the past twenty or so years. But arguing for argument’s sake should not be done. That is being a contrarian. That is simply looking for a fight.
I pray we all stop our grumbling. I pray we exchange arguing for healthy debate. I pray each one of us seek to change our attitude and outlook on life, seeking to be a person others point out as good. Seek a good reputation. Seek a change of attitude. Commit to working at it. Stop grumbling. Stop arguing. Have healthy debate. Be a star. Hold to the word of life.
Philippians 2:14-16 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.
Marty Pressey 