|
. GRATITUDE. "The Lord is near; have no anxiety, but in everything make your requests known to God in prayer and petition with thanksgiving. Then the peace of God, which is beyond our utmost understanding, will keep guard over your hearts and your thoughts, in Christ Jesus." (Phil 4:6,7 NEB).
'Gratitude
consists in a watchful, minute attention to the particulars of our state, and to
the multitude of God's gifts, taken one by one. It
fills us with a consciousness that God loves and cares for us, even to the least
event and smallest need of life. It is a blessed thought, that
from our childhood God has been laying His Fatherly hands upon us, and always in
benediction; that even the strokes of His hands are blessings, and among the
chiefest we have ever received. When this feeling is awakened, the heart beats
with a pulse of thankfulness. Every gift has its return of praise. It awakens an
unceasing daily converse with our Father, "Be always joyful; pray continually; give thanks whatever happens; for this is what God in Christ wills for you." (1 Thess 5:16-18 NEB). "O let people give thanks to Jehovah for His loving-kindness and for His wonderful works to the sons of men. And let them offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare His works with a joyful cry." (Psalms 107:21,22).
|
.