THANK HIM by Chad Bozarth

 
"The worst moment for an atheist is when he is really thankful and has no one to thank." -G.K. Chesterton

Many years ago I attended a big megachurch in the Dallas area. One thing that stood out to me every Sunday was how thankful everyone was who spoke from the pulpit, especially the pastor. Of course, I grew up in church, and had heard plenty of people thanking God for many things. My parents always had a spirit of gratitude and did their best to instill the same in me. But, the way this church was, well, like I said, it stood out to me. I hadn’t really heard thankfulness like this before. The pastor would stand up and thank God that he got out of bed that morning. He thanked Him that he could walk, talk, that he was in his right mind, etc. Seeing that type of thankfulness made an impact on me.

I’ve been complaining a lot lately. I don’t have anything to complain about, and yet, being the weak human that I am, I do it anyway. It seems like we live in a world full of complainers. Just go do a quick Google search of your favorite neighborhood restaurant and you will see plenty of people willing to air their grievances with the world. A few minutes scrolling through Twitter is enough to make anyone depressed. Shouldn’t we be different?

Shouldn’t we be marked by how thankful we are? Comparison is the poison of thankfulness. We have our daily bread, clothes on our backs, and a roof over our heads (so many people we meet overseas can’t say the same), but our neighbor down the street has magical organic bread from Whole Foods, a sweater from Neiman Marcus, and a roof with a little more square footage under it than we have. But today I’m thankful. I’m thankful for life. I’m thankful for health. I’m thankful I can walk. I’m thankful I can breathe without a machine. I’m thankful that I can see. I’m thankful that God didn’t leave me where I was, sinking in the mud of my own sin.

Praise  the Lord. Thank Him. I don’t want a rock to take my place.

-Chad

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