Helping over Complaining

I was sitting at Starbucks yesterday, enjoying my coffee and waiting on one of my friends to show up, while my ears happened to stumble upon a conversation being had between a group of middle-aged women. Stop me if you know where this is going...

They were Christians, it seemed, and they were talking about people. Well... complaining, really. Now, I don't know these ladies and I'm going to assume they meant the best and had the right heart towards what and who they were talking about. But, God told me something in that moment that has been messing with me ever since. It was a question that we can all ask ourselves, especially if you're a leader:

"Are you complaining about people more than you're helping them?"

Ouch. That hurts.

You see, when God asks me questions like that, He usually already knows that I am that person, but He's just asking me because it allows Him to rub it in a little more...

It's easy to talk about people. They are crazy. They frustrate me to no end. And just when you think you're making breakthroughs in people's lives, they go and do something stupid again.. It's like a never-ending cycle. And then there's me. The perfect one......... oh, wait..

Often times, the reason we get frustrated and just complain about people is because we've forgotten the grace that's been poured out on our lives and have failed to appreciate it. When God saw that the world was going the opposite way He intended it to, He didn't call a conference with the angels and have a mass counseling session where He and all the angels just discussed their feelings... He went and did something about it! In the book of Ephesians, chapter 2 it says that even while we were "dead" in our sins, Christ came for us! It goes on to say that this is a "gift" from our Heavenly Father. We didn't earn it. He just gave it.

So, the question then is, "Are you complaining, or are you giving?" I want to be someone who helps people more than I complain about them. I want to be someone who helps those burdened by sin, because I know the pain and heartache it's caused in my own life.

Galatians 6:1-2 says this: "Dear brothers and sisters, if another Christian is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path.... Share each other's troubles and problems, and in this way obey the law of Christ."

I don't think there's any fancy way of interpreting myself out of helping people there. That's my calling.

We do a lot of talking in the church, and it's good to suss things out and get things off your chest... But if we're doing more talking than helping, we've got to get our priorities straight. No one had to sacrifice more than Christ did, and He did it in order to help us. The first thing Jesus did after He was commissioned into ministry from fasting 40 days in the desert, was get a couple guys to go with him and start preaching the good news and healing people left and right. Lights, camera, ACTION.

We need to be people of action. There are people who desperately need Jesus, and our complaining about how dumb they are doesn't get them any closer to Him. But if we choose to help, to get our hands dirty and do things that are sometimes uncomfortable, then there's a chance they might get to know Him... and that, my friends, is the point.