gratitude

From Francis Frangipane (book "The Shelter of the Most High"):

A Thankful Man is a Humble Man
If you think you know God but do not live your life in gratitude before Him, it is doubtful that you really knew Him in the first place. A thankful heart honors God.

"For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened" (Rom. 1:20-21).

Even though we may know God in a theological sense, if we do not "honor Him as God or give thanks" our thought processes have a way of darkening around our sins and fears. When we are in that hardened, ungrateful state of mind it becomes a pathway into and out of hell (see James 3:6).

H. W. Beecher wrote, "Pride slays thanksgiving . . . a proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves." When God gives us less than we desire, it is not because He is teaching us poverty; He may be using our difficult circumstances to teach us thankfulness. Life - real life - is not based upon what we amass but on what we enjoy. When we are thankful with little, God can entrust us with much.