It’s smoky in here - 5 Evils of Discontentment (Ch 8)

He’s getting ugly now.

In chapter 8 of The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, Jeremiah Burroughs has us look eye to eye with how evil our complaining and murmuring really is. Recognize anybody you know? I’ve seen a reflection of myself this week. It’s not pretty.

Murmuring is like smoke: it indicates something is smoldering underneath.

Watch out for these first five smoke signs of evils in chapter 8, with eight more to follow next week in chapter 9.

1. Reveals corruption in your soul
If every little scratch makes you bleed profusely or leaves a nasty sore, you know something even bigger has gone wrong inside your body. Just so, if every little trouble makes you discontented, your soul is sick. A corrupted soul is a bigger problem than the affliction itself. Purge the inflammation in your heart so you can be healed at the soul level. 

2. Marks you as ungodly
Murmuring is not as small a matter as you think. “You think you are not as ungodly as others, because you do not swear and drink as others do, but you may be ungodly in murmuring...God will look upon you as ungodly for this sin as well as for any sin whatever.”

3. Brands you as rebellious
A rebellious heart is the opposite of a contented, worshipful heart. To be a murmurer is to be a rebel against God. When you feel a complaining attitude coming on, check it. Humble yourself before God because of this sin, before it leads you into full-blown, open rebellion.

4. Contradicts the work of God’s grace
The usual method of receiving grace is to first recognize your sin, see how it contrasts with Christ’s glory, disengage your heart from worldly things, depend on Jesus for all, submit yourself to God’s rule, and covenant yourself to him. If you keep your mind on this work of God in your soul, you’ll have no space for murmuring.

5. Is too low for a Christian
Murmuring should be a thing of your past because you now have a relationship with God as Father, with Jesus as spouse, as a member of his body, and as home to his Spirit. Let your spirit reflect the Father’s Spirit. Profess your deadness to the world and your aliveness in God. Meet God’s expectations to not only be patient in afflictions, but rejoice and triumph in them. Follow the example of other Christians who have found contentment in great afflictions.

* * * * *

The picture that Burroughs paints of a murmurer makes me wince, but it also motivates me to not be this way.

I want to be more satisfied with God today than I was yesterday, and even more so tomorrow than today.

Is that possible? Only with my conscious desire and with his supernatural help. May both be so.

More from Chapter 8
The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment