Two men were walking through a field one day when they spotted an enraged bull. Immediately they ran toward the nearest fence. The storming bull ran after them in hot pursuit, and they realized that they were not going to make it. Terrified, one man shouted to his friend, “Say a prayer, John. We’re in trouble ” John said, “I’ve never prayed out loud before. I don’t know what to say. “But you have to ” yelled his companion; “The bull is catching up to us.” “All right,” said John, as he ran with all his might; “I’ll say the only prayer I know. My father used to say it at the table: Oh Lord, for what we are about to receive, make us truly thankful.”
Some people pray only when they are in trouble. Even fewer pray a prayer of thanksgiving. There is an interesting paradox in our culture: the more we have, the less thankful we are. The more we have, the more we want. The more we have, the more we are aware of what we do not have, and if we should happen to forget, the advertising world is ready to remind us. If you were not already aware of the holiday of Thanksgiving, you would completely miss it if you only looked at the stores and listened to the media. It seemed like we have been totally bypassing Thanksgiving — moving straight from Halloween to Christmas. We went from a holiday of fear to one of hope without thanksgiving in between. But the reality is that it’s a grateful heart that moves us from fear to hope. Without Thanksgiving we are not ready for Christmas. A grateful heart brings about an expectant heart. You cannot be hopeful about the future without being thankful for the past and grateful for the present.
How do we develop a grateful heart? I am convinced that this is the work of God that only happens through prayer. We need to pray for three things. The first is, we need to pray that God would move our hearts: From Complaints to Praise. Can you imagine how different the world would be if beginning today people would not complain about anything? The world would be a completely different place. A new joy would begin to take over the world just because of that one minor change. But, now, can you imagine how different you would be if today you would stop complaining? There would be a whole new you. A new joy would begin to take over your life, and you would have a whole new outlook on the world. Some people would hardly have anything to say. If you would just stop complaining your relationships would be different, your job would be different, your home would be different, and your church would be different.
I went into the office of a pastor here in town, and he had sign on the wall with the word “whining.” Over the word was a circle with a slash through it. He wanted his office to be a no whining zone. I thought as I saw it: “Been there, heard that.” Our daughters are trying to turn their children’s hearts from whining to gratitude. “You need to be thankful for what you have,” they keep repeating in the hope that one day the message may get through. But, somehow, whining is the siren heard throughout our culture. Here we are with more luxuries, more food, more things, more of everything than anyone else in the world, or in the world’s history for that matter, yet whining is often the language of choice.
One of the things that so impressed me about the impoverished countries of Honduras and Haiti was that the Christians there were so joyful. They live in abject poverty, often not having enough to eat or the basic necessities of life, but they are full of praise to God. Their worship is exuberant and joyful in the midst of overwhelming deprivation. But so often in the United States, where our main problem is having too much to eat and too many things to buy, we are focusing on what is wrong rather than all the blessings that overflow from our lives. Try a little experiment this Thanksgiving. Announce that not a single word of complaining can come from anyone’s lips and see how difficult it is. See how accustomed we have become to looking at the negative instead of the positive in life.
Hear the Word of God as it says, “Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life” (Philippians 2:14-16). Having a heart that has developed a spirit of gratitude and put aside complaining is one of the evidences of reality of God’s Spirit in our lives to an unbelieving world. If we are as negative and cynical as the rest of the world, or worse, what does that say to those who are watching our lives? Constantly, on our lips, should be words of praise. We ought to sing the words of the Scripture which say, “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. . . . Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name” (1 Chronicles 29:11-13).
Secondly, we need to pray that God would move our hearts: From Criticism to Encouragement. Haven’t we been beaten up enough out in the world? Do we need to be beaten up by our friends and at home as well? Should not our Christian family be the place where we find understanding and encouragement? We need to be really careful in the things we say to each other. I was brought up in an extended family where several of my relatives thought it was funny to make fun of other people and make jokes at someone else’s expense. What they considered funny was devastating to other people, even if it was excused as being said in fun. I have had to unlearn much of what I learned growing up, and I still find myself falling into that trap again at times.
The Bible says, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:29-32). The command of God is that we build one another up, not tear each other down. It grieves the Holy Spirit when our words hurt instead of heal.
In our scripture today it said, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near” (Philippians 4:4-5). We need to work on being gentle toward others, especially the people in our own families. Build each other up. Look for the positive that you can praise instead of the negative that you are tempted to criticize. Look for ways to encourage.
When Paul reminded them that the Lord was near, he wanted them to realize how quickly life can come to an end. If you died this moment, what would be the last words your loved ones would remember coming from your lips? I think of the thousands of people who died on September 11, 2001. Those who had access to phones called their families to say that they loved them. It was the most important thing they had to say. They wanted their last words to be the words their loved ones remembered. Many of the people who died did not have a chance to call home before their life ended. You have to wonder how many had just exchanged angry words the night before. “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you,” the Word says. Ask God to help you move from criticism to encouragement.
The third thing we need to pray for is that God would move our hearts: From Cynicism to Faith. All of us have questions. We learn by questioning things. But there is a difference between questioning something and expecting that there is a reasonable answer and questioning for the sake of questioning — not expecting or wanting there to be an answer. You can question because you want to know, or you can question as an excuse for not wanting to know. A skeptic is a person who doubts something is true, but is willing to investigate the facts in order to know whether it is true or not. A cynic is one who assumes something is not true and is not willing to look at the evidence or take is seriously.
I have known many people who are stuck in life because they have allowed a cynical spirit to grow in their hearts. Any time you present the truth of Christ to them they always want to ask a question. And before you can complete the answer they move to another question, and another. Their conversations are full of “Yes, but. . .”, or “What about this. . .”, and “Other people believe. . . .” Some people question because they are on a journey to discover truth. The cynic isn’t even interested in the journey. They assume that all roads lead nowhere and you can’t know anything for sure.
The problem with a cynical spirit is that you never get anywhere. It robs you of confidence in life. The cynic asks, “How can you know there is a God?” “How can you be sure there is a heaven?” “How do you know that you are a Christian?” The message of the Bible is that God wants us to have confidence and know some things for sure. John wrote: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life”(1 John 5:13).
Jesus was constantly confronted by cynics who stubbornly refused to believe. They were willful in their spiritual blindness, even though he had performed miracle after miracle before their eyes. He said to them, “Even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father” (John 10:38). Another time when Jesus told a crippled man that his sins were forgiven, the cynics accused him of blaspheming, since God alone could forgive sins. But he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. . . .’ He said to the paralytic, ‘I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home’” (Mark 2:8-11).
A cynical heart can never be a grateful heart. It lives in the quagmire of doubt. It is never willing to crawl out of the darkness in order to come to the light. There is nothing to be grateful for, because everything is questioned. There is a smirk in the place of a smile. Faith is not something that just comes over you — it is a decision. There are not some who are predisposed to believe and some who are predisposed to doubt. All of us have a choice. You must decide to have faith. But this is not just a blind faith with no evidence. There is evidence all around you. The Bible says that, “what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse” (Romans 1:19-20).
I have seen some people have faith in the midst of staggering adversity. And I have seen others abandon their faith at the first sign of trouble. It is a choice that people make. This one thing is for sure: an unbelieving heart cannot be a grateful heart. The old saying goes, “Pity the poor atheist who sees a beautiful sunset and has no one to thank.”
We are those who even if we have nothing still have Someone to thank. We keep thinking that everything has to be taken care of and all our needs met before we can be thankful. But consider Habakkuk who said, “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior” (Habakkuk 3:17-18).
One of the amazing stories of the Bible is God’s deliverance of Israel from the slavery of Egypt, and how he delivered them to the promised land. Miracles accompanied them throughout the way, and God’s presence was visible and his voice audible to everyone. But how did the people respond? Were they grateful for all that God had done for them? The Bible says, “Then they despised the pleasant land; they did not believe his promise. They grumbled in their tents and did not obey the Lord” (Psalm 106:24-25). They did not believe God’s promise after all he had done for them, and therefore they became cynical and could not find a place for gratitude in their hearts.
The Thirty Years War was a series of European conflicts lasting from 1618 to 1648, involving most of the countries of western Europe, and fought mainly in Germany. It was one of the worst in history when it came to the actual number of deaths, economic upheaval and the ensuing epidemics that killed as many people as the military conflicts. A pastor named Martin Rinkart buried 6,000 people in a single year from the plague — about fifteen a day — including his wife and children. It was a dark and difficult time. Only during the first and last year of his ministry was there peace. He went through some of the worst times a person could experience. But if you look in your hymnal, you’ll find that in the middle of that time, he wrote a hymn of praise, our closing thanksgiving hymn today:
Now thank we all our God
With hearts and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things has done,
In whom this world rejoices.
For those who move from complaints to praise, from criticism to encouragement, and from cynicism to faith there is the reward of joy. For those who ask God to change the negative spirit within them, the Lord gives the gift of praise even in the worst of circumstances.
Rodney J. Buchanan
November 24, 2002
Mulberry St. UMC
Mt. Vernon, OH
www.MulberryUMC.org
Rod.Buchanan@MulberryUMC.org
