Have an attitude of gratitude
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Faith Fitness
Bro. Sam Kaufman
This is the time of the year to “count your blessings.”
In truth, we have so much to be thankful for every day.
To some who like to complain and mumble and grumble, it might not seem that way. But it is better to carry a more positive attitude about things. Being unthankful can get you in trouble.
If we know the Lord personally, we have an attitude of gratitude. At least we should possess that type of heart and mentality. After all, God has been so good to us.
The enemy of our soul, Satan, does his best to discourage us and make us feel as if our situation should get us down in the mulligrubs.
For those who don’t know what “mulligrubs” means, here is the actual definition: “Mulligrubs” refers to a state of ill temper, grumpiness, or low spirits, and is also used to describe stomach or intestinal discomfort like colic. The term can be used as a noun to describe the feeling itself, or as a verb to mean “to complain” or “be sullen.”
As Christinas, we don’t want to lower ourselves to that level.
We always want to be thankful and praise God. When Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown into the innermost prison for their stand for Jesus, they praised and worshiped God.
But others in the Bible were not so grateful, which caused them to lose out with the Lord.
“Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” – Romans 1:21.
We want to be the opposite of unthankful. After all, God inhabits the praises of His people. God can move through that worship, just as He did with Paul and Silas. Souls were even saved because of their attitude of praise.
In one New Testament instance, 10 lepers cried out to Jesus from afar off. Their desire was for Jesus to heal them of a hideous disease that had no cure. Their condition wasn’t limited to the physical pain stemming from leprosy.
They also likely suffered emotionally, knowing the disease would worsen until it eventually claimed their lives. Furthermore, they were isolated from society because leprosy was contagious.
They were basically castoffs left for dead that were already suffering and knew their condition would only worsen.
But they referred to Jesus as “Master,” meaning they acknowledged He was the awaited Messiah. They had faith that Jesus could heal them. Though they were far off, Jesus drew nigh to them.
Jesus wants to come close to all of us, regardless of our condition. He simply told the 10 lepers to go and present themselves to the priests. As they obeyed Jesus and went, their leprosy vanished.
They had been healed.
But only one returned to Jesus and with a loud voice glorified God for the healing. The man fell down at Jesus’ feet, giving Him thanks.
The deadly disease had been removed from the man. No doubt, he was full of joy at the heavy load that Jesus lifted from him.
But Jesus’ work goes beyond physical healing. Man is spiritually sick from sin, which leads to a death sentence. Jesus paid the price through His death, burial and resurrection to save our souls. Our sin separates us from God.
Jesus can forgive our sin and bring us back into fellowship with God, along with an eternity with God in Heaven and an escape from eternal torment.
The physical healing through Christ brings about much thanksgiving from the one who has been touched. But how much more thankful should we be regarding the spiritual healing to our souls? We should be praising and thanking God daily for our relationship with Him.
The praise and thanks continually flow to God from the deepest depths of our heart.
“By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.” – Hebrews 13:17.
