A THANKFUL HEART CANNOT ALSO BE CYNICAL

     By A.W. Tozer

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

         Let me recommend the cultivation of the habit of
     thankfulness as an effective cure for the cynical, sour
     habits of fault-finding among Christian believers.

         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!

         Please be aware that I am not recommending any of
     the "applied psychology" nostrums so popular in liberal
     circles. We who have been introduced to God through
     the miracle of the new birth realize that there is good
     scriptural authority for the cultivation of gratitude as a
     cure for spiritual sourness. Further, experience teaches
     us that it works!

         We should never take any blessing for granted, but
     accept everything as a gift from the Father of Lights.
     We should write on a tablet, one by one, the things for
     which we are grateful to God and to our fellow men.

         Personally, I have gotten great help from the practice
     of talking over with God the many kindnesses I have
     received.  I like to begin with thanking Him for His
     thoughts of me back to creation; for giving His Son to
     die for me when I was still a sinner; for giving the Bible
     and  His  blessed  Spirit who  inwardly  gives  us
     understanding  of  it.  I  thank  Him  for  my  parents,
     teachers, statesmen, patriots.

        I am grateful to God for all of these and more - - -
     and I shall not let God forget that I am.

---

     Yours in Christ,
     Paul N. F.