Chicken or the Egg, Cart or Horse?

I've written about this verse before, so I've obviously read it before! I just love how God uses scripture again and again to teach, enlighten, and sharpen me.

So yesterday I was reading through my Face to Face book (a praying-God's-word book of awesomeness) and it came to a prayer regarding Philippians 2:14 and 15:

Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.

I get that God wants us to do everything without complaining or arguing, so that we shine like stars in the universe. But I hadn't (until yesterday) caught on that we are supposed to do everything without arguing or complaining so that we may become blameless and pure.

Well, wait a minute...! I have been putting that verse on my 'to do when I am blameless and pure' burner. You know, with fasting and loving my enemy and stuff. We can't really be expected to do that stuff while we're still figuring it all out, can we? I'm supposed to believe that not complaining or arguing can have me become blameless and pure?

Well, if this is to be believed, it sure can. That, friends, is what Paul Faulkner used to call "Fake it 'till you make it." It may even seem to be 'inauthentic', which would lead some folks to say, "Well, I have to be honest about how I feel." Well, maybe you don't. Perhaps your momma was actually being scriptural when she told you, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all."

I believe that is the fruit called 'self control'.

I've got some work to do about keeping my mouth shut. Maybe, just maybe, I will eventually become blameless and pure!