by David Brenneman
Oh what comes from the mouths of men and women!
Tis a sad sad state to see a professed Believer in Jesus Christ be in when they are abundantly blessed and yet find nothing good in it and find complaint all the day long! They're totally missing the joy of the Lord's provision!
This thought caught my heart almost off guard. A person I know really is a decent person who is doing this complaining.
Charley Pride had a song called "Be Grateful" from 1976.
Blind man can't see flowers
Growing in the garden
Crippled man can't walk places where
He wants to go
Man that can't talk things he will never say
And a man that can't hear
Words he will never know
So if you can see and if you can walk
If you can hear and if you can talk
Then be grateful be grateful
For what you've got
Cause for some folks these things
Would mean a lot
I once heard a man say all he
Wanted out of life was money
To be the richest man have
Wealth and fame untold
But he could see he could walk he
Could hear and he could talk
And for some folks this would
Mean much more than gold
So if you can see and if you can walk
If you can hear and if you can talk
Then be grateful be grateful
For what you've got
Cause for some folks these things
Would mean a lot
So if you can see and if you can walk
If you can hear and if you can talk
Then be grateful be grateful
For what you've got
Cause for some folks these things
Would mean a lot
Cause for some folks these things
Would mean a lot
What many don't see or get is that falling down this path leads away from the life in Christ that we are supposed to be living in.
There's probably countless people who would love to have the "problems" this person whom I know has.
What's worse is this person's "problems" all stem from the same thing as, again, countless trillions of people in the world. Coming to Christ for salvation yet are wanting their own image of what a happy, successful, life looks like.
We who are among the saved in Christ Jesus are to put our all on the altar of God.
There's, again, many many people who would love to have the problems this person whom I know has.
In the last few years recently married. Recently a father. New to them home. Plainly obvious that God's been providing for them. Yet from their lips is a almost seemingly endless list of what's wrong in their life...and this to unbelievers and Believers alike.
My Dear Reader...when we come to Christ for salvation, it is then when we are taking up our own cross and following Jesus. It doesn't take much to read the 4 Gospels to see what it takes, what it means, to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ.
Jesus said plainly to His Disciples that they must deny themselves take up their own cross and follow Him.
Another great song on this thought was brought out by Don Moen, written by Henry Smith 1978.
Give thanks with a grateful heart
Give thanks to the Holy One
Give thanks because He's given Jesus Christ, His Son
Give thanks with a grateful heart
Give thanks to the Holy One
Give thanks because He's given Jesus Christ, His Son
And now let the weak say, "I am strong"
Let the poor say, "I am rich
Because of what the Lord has done for us"
And now let the weak say, "I am strong"
Let the poor say, "I am rich
Because of what the Lord has done for us"
Give thanks with a grateful heart (with a grateful heart)
Give thanks to the Holy One (to the Holy One)
Give thanks because He's given Jesus Christ, His Son
Give thanks with a grateful heart (with a grateful heart)
Give thanks to the Holy One (to the Holy One)
Give thanks because He's given Jesus Christ, His Son
And now let the weak say, "I am strong"
Let the poor say, "I am rich
Because of what the Lord has done for us"
And now let the weak say, "I am strong"
Let the poor say, "I am rich (I am rich)
Because of what the Lord has done for us"
Give thanks
We give thanks to You
Scripture backs up these songs well in "Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit; ”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-19.
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7.
“speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.” Ephesians 5:19-21.
Be very very careful my Dear Reader.
"So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, ” Philippians 2:12-15.
What we say, what we do, what we think, shapes what our lives in Christ say to those in our lives see of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Be Grateful...Give thanks.
All NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission.
New American Standard Bible
(C) 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation.
A corporation not for profit.
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