Be Still And Know

Philippians 2:14–15 Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticise you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people. We probably all complain from time to time, but as a way of life it can be very destructive. It has been wisely said that complaining doesn’t solve problems, it only attracts them. Complaints were clearly a feature of the church in Philippi and Paul was eager that they should stop. His comments remind us of the people of Israel during their 40 years in the wilderness. Even though they had observed God miraculously leading them out of slavery in Egypt it wasn’t long before the complaints began. Paul challenged his readers to live in such a way that they couldn’t be criticised, because that could only damage their Christian witness. He had no illusions about how hard this would be. His description of the world being full of crooked and perverse people was clearly based on his own per