FREEDOM OF SPEECH......REALLY?

Soon the people began to complain about their hardship, and the Lord heard everything they said. Then the Lord’s anger blazed against them, and he sent a fire to rage among them, and he destroyed some of the people in the outskirts of the camp. ² Then the people screamed to Moses for help, and when he prayed to the Lord, the fire stopped.  (Numbers 11:1-2)

In America we love our freedoms.....and honestly they are many...but as a Christian American I wonder do any of those freedoms change?  Before anyone thinks this is my attempt to curb, shut down, or even take a jab at the myriads of political rhetoric posted on social media....I'd caution you to pause, simply because complaining happens far outside those boundaries. 

I mean we can be found complaining about any and everything.  And remember there is a difference between making A COMMENT, verses COMPLAINING.  One is isolated...the other one is a frequent topic of conversation.  From our kids poor decisions, to the amount of work, or hours of work we are asked to fulfill. We complain about taxes & the gov't.   We will complain about the preacher, and the teachers.  We complain about the worship or the worshippers.    We complain about the neighbors and even the neighborhood, and at the end of it all......how does GOD feel about complaining, or more specifically about OUR, his chosen peculiar people complaining??????

We see the Israelites complain throughout the scriptures, we find Job complaining (7,10), we see that there are times the Lord saves us during times of crying out, but it appears by and large that our suffering increases when we complain or murmur against what He is attempting to teach us.   Remember in Deut. 1:34 God became angry when His people were complaining.   Remember the Israelites ended up in bondage to the Egyptians because of their own sins.   Remember the 3 days journey turned into 40 years of wandering, because of complaining.  Jesus rebukes the people in John 6:43 to stop complaining.   It even says in 1Cor. 10:9-10 that we shouldn't be found murmuring or we too will get destroyed.....  James 5:9 cautions us to not complain for we will be judged.   Philippians 2:9 Paul instructs us to do EVERYTHING without complaining and arguing.......now if this wasn't a punch to my/our guts.........so how should we be in a culture such as ours........  I recently heard from a dear brother JJ Bond that maybe after accepting Christ everyone needs some duct tape put over their mouth to force us to have to actively live out our faith, before getting in trouble with our words.....not a bad idea, since the tongue is so hard to tame.  So again, how are we to exist in such a perverse culture?

PAUL penned it best...Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. ⁶ Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone. Col. 4:5-6  In other words......never expect non-believers to conduct themselves as WE are suppose to conduct ourselves....this is a yoke we can't put on them.  So knowing that they aren't believers we should be gracious, and kind in our conversation as to win them over with our love, after all it was some one's love & genuine concern for us that won us into the faith in the first place.   NOW GO & SHOW the LOVE OF CHRIST ALIVE in you.  LGLP