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It was Saturday, but instead of bustling about the kitchen, getting food ready for the Lord’s Day, I was texting the new family at church to let them know that we’d have to reschedule our Sunday lunch plans. My pastor husband was still sick and was going to need the afternoon to rest before the evening service. Ugh, I hate when this happens, I inwardly grumbled. How can he be sick when he takes such good care of his body?
Sometimes we forget what side of heaven we’re living on. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:4, “For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.”
Every day, we encounter constant reminders that we are living in earthly tents in a fallen world. Clothing gets stained, iPhones get smashed on the pavement, and kids run fevers the night before vacation. How easy it is to respond to the ensuing disappointment, changed plans, or extra expenses with sinful grumbling.
We know from the example of the Israelites that it is wrong to grumble. Does this mean that we simply ought to turn a blind eye to all the daily evidences of a fallen world? Do we stoically declare that it’s “just the way life goes” and try not to care? I think Paul would say no, and that rather than grumbling, the Christian ought to be groaning. What’s the difference?
Have you ever had to teach a child how to grumble and complain? Neither have I. Grumbling comes by default because every single one of us is born with a sinful heart. We are spiritually blind to the glory of Christ and the eternal realities that should be shaping our aims, affections, and responses. Grumbling comes from a proud heart and essentially declares, “I ought to be the one running the show here.”
Groaning, on the other hand, is a work of the Holy Spirit that can take place only in the transformed heart of a child of God. A groaning heart is not blind to or indifferent toward the challenges of living in this present evil age, but it does look at those challenges through a particular lens—a resurrection-colored lens. When the future realities of bodily resurrection and eternity with Christ are increasingly etched on our vision, we will groan along with Paul, “My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better” (Phil. 1:23).
Indeed, to be with Christ is far better than relational conflicts, cranky kids, and broken dishwashers. Yet let us not forget that in the same breath Paul declared, “To remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account” (v. 24). Paul had a God-given work to do, and though he knew that it would be riddled with hardship and inconvenience, his Spirit-wrought groaning gave way to holy resolve for fruitful labor until the day that Christ called him home.