by A. W. Tozer
A little Sunday school song popular some time ago exhorted us in moments of discouragement to count our many blessings, and it assured us that if we did so we would be astonished at the many things the Lord had done for us.
The song contains more than a little practical wisdom. We are by nature inclined to be ungrateful and to take as a matter of course the countless blessings God every day showers upon us. We need to keep our thankfulness alive by reminding ourselves how many benefits we enjoy, both as individuals and as a nation.
1. The Church
With all its faults, the Church has kept the torch of truth burning so that today no one in the civilized world need be in darkness. No one who reads these words but can have abundance of spiritual light if he is interested enough to seek it. Even in these days of declension there are still enough gospel churches to illuminate the public mind. Spiritual darkness where it occurs is the result of indifference. There is plenty of light. The Spirit in the Church has seen to that. And for this we should be deeply grateful.
2. Our Country
There is real danger that the doings of cheap politicians should sour us against our own land. Charges and countercharges are being hurled back and forth till the air is blue with them. We must guard against becoming cynical and losing faith in America. Without approving everything we see, there is still sound reason to thank God for our country and all it stands for.
Among the treasures enjoyed by all of us is freedom. Though greatly maligned by its foes and deeply wounded in the house of its friends, it is yet the sweetest thing under the sun next to the Christian religion. Only those who have lost it can fully appreciate it. We are so used to being free that we are in danger of taking our freedom for granted. Let us never do so. We are free at the cost of blood. Many thousands of brave men, who loved life as dearly as we, lie sleeping row on row on a hundred battlefields. They secured for us the right to walk in the sun and to breathe the sweet air of heaven. We should never think of them without bowing our heads in respect to them and in gratitude to God.
3. Family
Usually we live too close to our own people to appreciate them as we should. Only after they have left us do we discover how much we owe them. The home is our nursery, our first school, our refuge from life’s rough winds and our resting place after the toils of the day. Allowing for its inevitable imperfections, the family and the home are dear beyond words. Father, mother, sister, brother—how much we owe them and how little we repay. Thanksgiving should remind us that our own people mean more than we in our busy preoccupation are likely to remember.
4. Friends and Neighbors
The most “friendless” man, if he will but stop a moment, is likely to discover how many friends he really has after all. Only the man who has like a rogue elephant turned against the herd and put himself outside the bounds of human tolerance may be said to be wholly friendless. And even he may be treated with the most unexpected kindness by policemen, judges, and jailers. If the members of society are forced to turn their backs upon the outlaw they seldom do it with bitterness. For the most vicious criminal there remains yet a tattered remnant of love and sympathy.
If this is true of the morally abandoned how much more may the average decent citizen expect and receive understanding and affection. The newspapers know from long experience that a picture of an orphaned baby will bring a hundred inquiries from sympathetic parents who want to adopt it. The story of a needy family will bring in a truckload of gifts from the readers.
And for us Christians, how much closer and dearer are our friendships. They begin here on earth and continue beyond death and enter the world above. For our Christian friends we should be tenderly thankful, and more so as the years go on. We should never take them for granted. They are much too precious for that.
5. Jesus
Lastly, because most precious of all, is the friendship and communion of Jesus. He is the friend that sticks closer than a brother, and He has assured us that He will never leave us nor forsake us. Let this knowledge keep us ever thankful. We dare not take Jesus for granted. His love alone should keep the flame of our gratitude at white heat until that day when we shall be presented to the Father with exceeding joy.
Adapted from The Alliance Weekly, November 24, 1954