July 25th, 2008
One of the glories of the gospel is that it transforms ‘guilty pleasures’ into grateful pleasures. In other words, things that you once did without gratefulness to God or self-control (e.g. eat ice cream, go cycling, watch movies), you can now do with joy in your heart and in a way that pleases God.
So I’m declaring today Grateful Pleasure Friday. My grateful pleasure? Sushi. Yes, as freakish as it may sound, I enjoy eating fish that are only slightly dead. I love the taste and texture of raw tuna. I love the ‘nostrils full of lava’ feel you get when you consume a little to much wasabi. Raw fish = extreme deliciousness. I’m grateful to God for sushi.
Alright, you’re up. What’s your grateful pleasure?
+ArabianRose
Categories: Thankfulness |
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July 11th, 2008
I must confess, I absolutely love nasal spray. Before you abandon this blog as the ravings of a congested madman, let me explain. I’ve had a cold for the last week, and during this time my nose has been jammed to the rafters. Breathing through my nose has been difficult if not impossible. I’m sure you can relate.
Nose spray is an absolute life saver for me. Just a couple shots of the magical mist and I’m suddenly breathing better than when I’m not sick (which is probably a bad sign). Nose spray makes a bad cold much more manageable. I truly am grateful to God for the gift of nose spray!
Okay, now it’s your turn. Today is “Grateful For Little Things Friday”. What’s one normal household item that you are truly grateful for and why?
Categories: Thankfulness |
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July 10th, 2008
Fanny Crosby wrote over 8,000 hymns, including “Praise Him, Praise Him” and “To God be the Glory”.
Before he was 20, Charles Spurgeon had preached over 600 times. He read 6 books per week and could recall what he had read and locate it, even years later. He started a pastors’ college that trained nearly 900 students during his lifetime. He’s estimated to have preached to 10,000,000 people (The Reformed Reader). He answered 500 letters a week.
John Wesley rose at 4 a.m., traveled constantly, usually on horseback, formed societies, commissioned preachers, oversaw charities, and even wrote hymns, including O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing.
Did these folks ever cut their grass? Did they ever have to clean their gutters? And really – 500 letters a week! I can barely keep up with a few emails each day. And I don’t even want to talk about guys like John Piper, who’s probably written 3 books in the time it’s taken me to do this post.
Fortunately, we don’t have to be giants of the faith to glorify God. It’s pretty simple actually.
The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me (PS 50.23).
What could be easier? We can glorify God by giving thanks. But how does gratefulness honor the Lord?
Thankfulness shows we appreciate God’s costly mercy in saving us.
We were blind and dead in our sins, under God’s wrath, slaves of sin and Satan, without hope or God, and unable to save ourselves, when Jesus came down, suffered brutal torture, holy wrath and death to rescue us and bring us to God. How can we not be thankful?
If for no other reason other than the fact that he saved us, we should overflow with gratitude all the days of our lives. Even if God never gave us another blessing in this life, we should be eternally thankful.
Thankfulness shows we appreciate God’s abundant goodness and generosity.
By thanking God, we’re acknowledging that all we have comes from him, that he’s the giver of every good gift. That he’s a generous God. That Christ is our fountain of blessings, spiritual and material.
Thankfulness shows what a wonderful Master we serve.
Our local hospital is consistently voted one of the best places to work in PA, a reflection of the CEO and President, who is a Christian. The cheerful service of the folks at Indiana Regional Medical Center shows what a great boss they have.
When unbelievers see sour, dour, down-in-the-mouth Christians, they must wonder what kind of Master they have who makes their lives so miserable. Believers should be the most thankful, cheerful people on earth, so that everyone can see what a wonderful Master we serve.
Even when we suffer painful trials we can thank Jesus for his death, love and mercy, and that our sovereign Savior will ultimately bring glory and good from our trials.
Can you add some other ways thankfulness glorifies God?
photo by Domesticated Diva
Categories: Thankfulness |
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June 13th, 2008
Sometimes blogging can be like passing a kidney stone. Not really. I’ve never had a kidney stone, but from what I hear, they’re pretty high on the pain spectrum. So blogging is nothing like passing a kidney stone. I just wanted to throw that line out there.
But blogging does have its challenges. For example, today I have absolutely nothing of importance coming to mind. No profound insights, no prophetic pictures of when the rapture might occur, no idea why the show Survivor is still on television. But I do know this: I’m grateful. So today I’m simply going to share with you some reasons that I’m grateful, and then you’re going to share your reasons. In fact, I’m officially declaring that today is gratefulness Friday. I’m grateful that:
- God saved me from a life of crime, drugs, people-hating, and life-ruining laziness at the age of six.
- I have a wife who loves me so much that she’s willing to play silly video games with me, like Lego Star Wars.
- I have a little girl who is so happy that she often interrupts her grandpa’s Sunday sermons with joyful outbursts.
- I go to a church that believes in Jesus as Savior first and example second.
- I have a body that’s healthy enough to play basketball, go for hikes, and hate jogging.
- My stomach is full of food when so many people are dying of hunger.
- I have the real words of God sitting on my end table.
- I have the words of John Piper, C.J. Mahaney, John Stott, and other evangelical giants on my shelf.
- Someone invented: Hot Pockets, the Internet, Crocs, Yamaha Scooters, XBox 360’s, and Starbuck’s.
- That my dad is my pastor, and my friend, and my hero. And that he laughs at himself.
This list could go on for pages. But now it’s your turn. What are you grateful for? Leave a comment, or post it on your blog if you’ve got one.
Categories: Thankfulness |
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March 3rd, 2008
It doesn’t take much to expose my wicked heart. God doesn’t need to toss me into prison or break my fibula to reveal the discontentment that lurks in my inner recesses. Sometimes all it takes is my wife Kristi telling me what’s for dinner when I get home from work. “I thought we’d have leftovers tonight,” she says on rare occasions. I sigh, and offer up a barely audible “great,” mustering as much excitement as if she’d told me we were having roadkill.
Why am I so ungrateful at times? Discontentment reveals that I am taking delight in something other than Jesus Christ. It shows that I’m looking to my circumstances for my joy, not to the God of my salvation.
This is just the opposite of a woman Charles Spurgeon spoke of:
“I have heard of some good old woman in a cottage, who had nothing but a piece of bread and a little water. Lifting up her hands, she said as a blessing, “What! All this, and Christ too?”
This woman realized that Jesus Christ was her all in all. He was her bread of life, her spring of living water. Jesus was her treasure and all her joy was in him. That’s why she could rejoice in a crust of bread and a little water. Her joy came from Jesus, not her circumstances.
When we look to the things of this world to provide our joy we will always be disappointed, for we have been designed to find our satisfaction in God alone:
“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;
and he who has no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food” (Isaiah 55:1-2).
God tells us not to spend our money for that which is not bread – in other words, don’t live for the things of this world. They are like plastic fruit, which might look tasty, but won’t satisfy. But pursue him who truly satisfies, Jesus Christ, the bread of life. If we have Jesus then we don’t need anything else. If we have Jesus, then all other blessings are just extras - icing on the cake.
If the poor woman Spurgeon mentioned could rejoice over a crust of bread, how much more should we be thankful who have Christ plus a thousand other blessings in our lives. How about you? Can you say this about your life today - “What! All this, and Christ too?”
I resolve by God’s grace, that the next time Kristi informs me that we are having leftovers, I will lift up my hands and joyfully declare, “What! All this, and Christ too?”
Categories: Thankfulness |
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December 20th, 2007
When was the last time you took a blessings inventory? I recently found myself sitting in my living room, feeling sorry for myself because of some unexpected expenses which were going to cramp my Christmas style. In other words, I wasn’t going to be able to buy and get as much stuff this year. And then I took a look around my living room and realized what a pudding-headed blockhead I was, and sadly, how ungrateful I was. I was sitting in the lap of luxury, surrounded by countless, undeserved blessings, and I was feeling sorry for myself. It was time to do a blessings inventory. Here’s some of the things I came up with:
Salvation:
The sweetest of all blessings, the deepest of all mercies. I was once an enemy of God, now I’m His child. He has sought me out and drawn me to Himself. He has washed me in the blood of His precious Son and clothed me in robes of righteousness. I’m forgiven and free. I’ve been brought into a soul-satisfying relationship with the Creator of the universe. What else do I need to be happy?
My wife Jen:
I have the most wonderful wife in the universe. She loves Jesus and serves Him with all her heart. She cares for me, and cares for our daughter with the deepest affection. She’s full of joy and always willing to laugh at my utterly stupid jokes. She beats me at Boggle…sometimes. I don’t deserve her.
My daughter Charis:
Not only do I have the most wonderful wife, I also have the sweetest daughter. She’s three month’s old, bald, cuter than the cutest thing you can think of, and smiles a lot. She makes my heart happy. Undeserved blessing.
My job:
I can go to work every single day and make sums of money that would make 2/3 of the world jealous. My job allows me to provide food and clothes for my family. My job allows me to get good health care, and to buy coffee at Starbuck’s. I don’t deserve a job.
My health:
By God’s grace, I’m a pretty healthy guy. The illnesses I deal with are nothing compared to what many people endure. I deal with colds, they deal with cancer. I deal with a sore back, they deal with paralysis. I deal with allergies, they deal with blindness. I deserve terrible health, but instead God has given me good health.
My house:
I live in a house that’s full of furniture, has a comfortable bed, and has a large television. I stay warm in the winter. I take hot showers and watch football games. I invite friends over to play XBox 360. I deserve to be on the streets with no home, no warmth, and no friends. Instead I find myself living in luxury.
This list could go on, and should include my church, my friends, my family, coffee, the Pittsburgh Steelers, Christmas Trees, email, and a thousand other blessings. Even if there wasn’t a single present under my tree this year, I should be happy. I’m blessed beyond measure. God has been good to this wicked sinner.
When was the last time you took a blessings inventory? If you find yourself feeling ungrateful, now’s the time to do it.
Categories: Thankfulness |
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November 22nd, 2007
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits - Psalm 103:2Thanksgiving is a day to remember all God’s benefits and blessings. In Christ believers receive innumerable spiritual blessings and benefits. Who can calculate all God’s kindnesses and mercies to us in Jesus? Forgiveness, justification, fellowship with God, joy inexpressible and full of glory, the hope of seeing Christ’s face are but a few of his incredible blessings.
Thanksgiving is also a day we can thank God for his “common grace”. Common grace is the kindness God shows to all men, saved and unsaved. “For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good” (Mt. 5:45). I recently read a story of God’s mercy in the Mexican war in 1846. It is recounted in the book Blood and Thunder by Hampton Sides.
General Stephen Watts Kearny led a force of 100 dragoons to fight against a few hundred Mexican caballeros led by Capt. Andres Pico in the Battle of San Pasqual. The dragoons were confident their guns would decimate the Mexicans who were armed primarily with lances, but discovered in the heat of battle that their ammunition had gotten damp during the night, and their guns wouldn’t fire. The Mexican lances shredded the Americans. The Americans who escaped camped on a hill called Mule Hill surrounded by the enemy, awaiting reinforcements.
Sides says that many were wounded and “had developed gangrene or horrible infections in the deep punctures left by the lances.” Then he tells this story which displays God’s mercy to a dying soldier.
One member of the party, a French trapper named Robideaux who had lost a great amount of blood was hovering near death. The men had more or less written off the poor fellow, who in his death agonies kept hallucinating that he smelled coffee—a luxury no one traveling with Kearny had seen or tasted in months. “Don’t you smell it?” Robideaux beseeched them. “A cup of coffee would save my life!”
Everyone knew that the mountain men were all inveterate coffee addicts—especially the French—so Lieutenant Emory believed that the doomed man was simply exercising a final Gallic nostalgia before passing on to his reward. “I supposed a dream had carried him back to the cafes of St. Louis and New Orleans,” Emory said.
But he was soon shocked to find that Robideaux was right—somewhere in the camp a cook was indeed heating up a cup of coffee over a sagebrush fire. Emory went over and persuaded him to give it up to the dying Frenchman. Says Emory: “One of the most agreeable little offices performed in my life, and I believe in the cook’s , was to pour this precious draught into the waning body of our friend Robideaux. His warmth returned, and with it hopes of life.” Robideaux soon recovered and swore for the rest of his days that he owed his life to coffee.” (p. 164)
I love this story. In his mercy, God gave a dying French trapper a cup of coffee and many more days of life. As you’re enjoying your Thanksgiving feast today thank God for his kindness in saving you through the blood of Jesus, and thank him for his common grace and goodness in giving us blessings like food and drink. I know that after I finish my turkey, I’ll cry out to my wife Kristi, “A cup of coffee would save my life!”
photo: Beth Altrogge
Categories: Thankfulness |
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October 19th, 2007
I recently watched a inspiring/sad documentary called “God Grew Tired Of Us” (watch the trailer here), which follows the lives of several young men from Sudan. These men had been separated from their families by violence, and some of the boys had even seen their families executed before their very eyes. They had no hope of returning to Sudan, and very little hope of seeing their surviving family members again. But for a few, there was hope. A small handful of the boys were given the opportunity to move to the United States where they would work to establish a new life for themselves. In the United States they would get jobs, earn money, and perhaps even go to school.
At one point in the movie a young man named Jon Bul Dau finds out that some members of his family, including his mother, are still alive, living in another African country. Jon was planning on attending a local community college, but when he heard of his surviving family, he put his education to the side and threw himself into work, striving to save up enough money to bring his family to America. He worked two brutal jobs, spending a full, backbreaking day in a factory and then spending his evenings cooking hamburgers in a McDonald’s. Yet what was Jon’s response when asked about working double shifts every day? “It is wonderful, it is wonderful” he said. “It is generating income.”
My heart was challenged by Jon’s gratefulness. Colossians 2:7 commands us to be “…abounding in thanksgiving.” Jon Bul Dau was clearly abounding in thanksgiving, even in the midst of miserable working conditions. He was working 16 hours a day at two mind-numbing, low-paying jobs, yet he was deeply grateful. Why? He realized what a blessing it was to make money. And the most challenging thing is, I’m not even sure if Jon Bul Dau is a Christian.
I work a mere eight hours a day and find myself complaining. I’m blessed with enough money to buy food and clothes, and to support my family, but I don’t give thanks to God. I live a relatively pain-free life in the richest country on earth, yet my heart is quick to complain. Oh how I want to change in this area. I want to be abounding in thanksgiving for my job. When I go to work, I want my heart to overflow with joy, because I can provide for my family. There are billions of people around the world who would love to have my job, because it would allow them to put food in the bellies of their children. I want to thank God for providing for me.
When was the last time you thanked God for your job? When was the last time you rejoiced on your way to work? If you’re a stay-at-home mom, when was the last time you rejoiced in your husband’s job? We serve an incredibly generous God. Let’s be abounding in thankfulness towards Him.
Categories: Thankfulness |
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October 18th, 2007
Did you ever realize that you’re surrounded by dead people? Everywhere you turn, you see people that are literally dead. What exactly am I talking about? Hear the words of Ephesians 2:1-3
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience - among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
This past weekend was homecoming at the local university, and as I saw one stone drunk college student after another stumble past my house, I was reminded that I’m surrounded by spiritually dead people. I saw hundreds of college students passionately indulging in sin, pursuing the very things that would make them unhappy, and I was reminded that this world is a spiritual morgue. The truth is, I’m surrounded by millions of people who are dead.
Which brings me to the question of the millennium: why am I alive? I too was once dead in my sins. I too was an object of the wrath of God, doomed to hell and destined to pursue the fleeting joys of this world. But for some reason God chose to save me. God breathed life into my spiritually dead soul, and made me spiritually alive.
I go into the grocery store and I give money to a dead cashier. I go out to dinner with my wife, and exchange pleasantries with a dead waiter. I talk to my neighbors…who are dead. But praise be to God, He made me alive. I will forever sing the praises of the One who made me alive. The only response to such grace is abundant gratefulness.
Categories: Thankfulness |
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October 17th, 2007
Growing up, Thanksgiving was always a special day in my family. It began with the legendary “Cowboy Breakfast”. To understand the Cowboy Breakfast you must first understand that my dad placed a strong emphasis on manners around the table. He taught me to chew with my mouth closed, to avoid biting my fork, and even to break my bread in half before buttering it, which I’m not sure is a real manner at all. To this day I’m grateful that I learned good manners. But during the Cowboy Breakfast, all manners went out the window. We ate with our fingers, belched passionately, and chewed with our jaws hanging wide open. We ate like cowboys, and we loved it.
There is one Thanksgiving that I remember particularly well, not because of the breakfast but because of what happened after breakfast. Dad brought us all together in the living room and told us that we were going to make a list of all the things we were grateful for, and for the next twenty minutes we rattled off one thing after another. Many items appeared on that two-page list, but one topped them all. At one point my brother David, who was only about 5 at the time, announced that he was grateful that dinosaurs didn’t come into the house. I’m sure you can see why he was grateful. Nobody, especially me, wants a T-Rex hanging out in the house.
I want my life to be like that list. Recently I read Colossians 2:6-7 which says, “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” The words “abounding in thanksgiving” arrested me. I have so much to be grateful for, and yet I’m not abounding in thanksgiving. In fact, I’m often abounding in complaining. But I want that to change. I want to be abounding, overflowing, and bursting with thanks. I want thanks to God to be the natural response to His many blessings. I want to abound in thanksgiving for the gospel, my salvation, my house, my food, my wife, my daughter, my job, this country, my health, and the thousands of other blessings that I’ve received. And so by God’s grace, I will grow in thanksgiving, starting today.
Do you abound in thanksgiving? Does thanks to God flow from your lips on a regular basis? Take time today to give thanks to God for specific blessings. Thank Him for saving you and delivering you from your sins. Thank Him for the glorious gospel. Join with me today in being abundantly thankful!
Categories: Thankfulness |
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