WHAT ARE YOU THANKFUL FOR? by Chad Bozarth

  I've never been a big fan of trying to put guilt and shame on anyone.  You know, like when a mom tells her kid to clean his plate of food because there's some child in some third-world country somewhere that would love to have that food. While that may be true, me cleaning my plate hardly feeds anyone. That being said, it is beneficial for all of us to take stock of our lives and recognize all we have to be thankful for. As David prayed, 

Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts;

And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

What if being unthankful is wickedness? I know all of us would say we are thankful. We recognize that everything we have comes from God, but I think unthankfulness can sneak in in a more stealth and sinister way.  When our priorities and expectations are not where they need to be we can find ourselves amidst severe unthankfulness.  Unthankfulness is rooted in unrealized expectations.  We all love to quote the verse that says, "Ye have not, because ye ask not."  I'm not sure if we really like to finish what it actually says though.... "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts."  Anyway, I'm not trying to be preachy.  I'm saying this to myself more than anyone.  In 2017, my prayer is that I get what I ask for... because I am asking rightly... not amiss.

--- Chad

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