Cultivate a Habit of Thankfulness

"In this world of corruption there is real danger that the earnest Christian may overreact in his resistance to evil and become a victim of the religious occupational disease, cynicism. The constant need to go counter to popular trends may easily develop in him a sour habit of faultfinding and turn him into a sulky critic of other men's matters, without charity and without love.

What makes this cynical spirit particularly dangerous is that the cynic is usually right. His analyses are accurate, his judgment sound. He can prove he is right in his moral views; yet for all that he is wrong, frightfully, pathetically wrong. But because he is right, he never suspects how tragically wrong he is...."

A.W. Tozer wrote this in the 1950's, but how it still rings true in this generation! I must say in my younger years, I was in this same pit. It took me years to realize how sinful I was. I was actually proud of the fact that I would stand for right in the face of opposition, no matter where it took my heart. Tozer goes on to say...

"Now, as a cure for the sour, faultfinding attitude I recommend the cultivation of the habit of thankfulness. Thanksgiving has great curative power. The heart that is constantly overflowing with gratitude will be safe from those attacks of resentfulness and gloom that bother so many religious persons. A thankful heart cannot be cynical."

And so it is absolutely true! I still am prone to these "attacks of resentfulness", but God has given me the way out if I will just turn to him in trust and thank Him!