Praise Perspective

In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians  5: 18

Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ (2 Corinthians 2: 14).

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15: 57)

Only fear the LORD, and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you (1 Samuel 12: 24).

Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5: 20

Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Colossians  3: 17

For a couple of weeks now our electric range has been on the fritz awaiting a part. The part came in today but didn’t work and has to be reordered. As my wife said today, it’s nice to go out to eat if you have a choice. There is so much we take for granted. When we do that it damages our praise perspective.

Consider:

• If you own just one Bible, you are abundantly blessed. Most people in the world do not.

• If you awoke this morning more healthy than ill, you are more blessed than one million people who will not survive the week.

• If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of more than five hundred million people around the world.

• If you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head, and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75 percent of this world. (Even if you have no range to cook on.)

• If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish somewhere, you are among the top 8 percent of the world’s wealthy.

• If you prayed yesterday and today, you are in the minority because you believe in God’s willingness to hear and answer prayer.

• If you have the ability to choose between churches where you may freely worship, you have a blessing many people in this world do not.

• If you are a devoted follower of Jesus Christ, you live with the daily assurance that you will have eternal life, and that your Savior has gone to prepare a mansion for you in glory. Millions of people believe this sad life is all there is.

Jeremiah, David (2006-03-07). Captured by Grace: No One Is Beyond the Reach of a Loving God (p. 188-9). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

Grace teaches us gratitude which should lead to praise. When we take for granted and forget the Giver, sometimes the only way He can get our attention back is to allow us to lose something.

Isn’t that what happened on 9/11?