always
giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Ephesians 5:20
Let me
recommend the cultivation of the habit of thankfulness as an effective cure for
the cynical, sour habits of faultfinding among Christian believers.
Thanksgiving
has great curative power. The heart that is constantly overflowing with
gratitude will be safe from those attacks of resentfulness and gloom that
bother so many religious persons. A thankful heart cannot be cynical!
Please be
aware that I am not recommending any of the “applied psychology” nostrums so
popular in liberal circles. We who have been introduced to God through the
miracle of the new birth realize that there is good scriptural authority for
the cultivation of gratitude as a cure for spiritual sourness. Further,
experience teaches us that it works!
We should
never take any blessing for granted, but accept everything as a gift from the
Father of Lights. We should write on a tablet, one by one, the things for which
we are grateful to God and to our fellow men.
Personally,
I have gotten great help from the practice of talking over with God the many
kindnesses I have received. I like to begin with thanking Him for His thoughts
of me back to creation; for giving His Son to die for me when I was still a
sinner; for giving the Bible and His blessed Spirit who inwardly gives us
understanding of it. I thank Him for my parents, teachers, statesmen, patriots.
I am
grateful to God for all of these and more—and I shall not let God forget that I
am!
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