More from CJ Mahaney's "Humility" on practices in the morning that cultivate humility...If you missed the first post, find it here.
"The second daily item is this: Begin your day expressing gratefulness to God.
'Thankfulness,' Michael Ramsey reminds us, 'is a soil in which pride does not easily grow.' That's exactly right and we want to cultivate that soil. So from the outset of the day, I want to greet my Savior with gratitude, not grumbling.
It was said of Matthew Henry [famous pastor from the 1600-1700s] that 'he was an alert and thankful observer of answered prayer'; his gratitude for God's mercies was constantly 'sweetening his spirit, and he would often invite others to join him in giving thanks.' If you crossed Matthew Henry's path, you would quickly realize that here was someone taking thankful notice of all God was doing for him, and doing so in an attractively joyful way that was infectious.
How I want that to also be a description of me! Is this your desire as well?
What would happen if I crossed your path tomorrow morning? Would I encounter someone who was an alert and thankful observer of answered prayer, someone who in a pronounced way was grateful for God's many mercies?
We also want to continue throughout the day expressing gratefulness for the innumerable manifestations of God's grace. It's as if God is placing sticky-notes in our lives as daily reminders of His presence and provision. They're everywhere. How alert and perceptive of them are you? Are you a thankful observer of the countless indications of His provision, His presence, His kindness, and His grace?
An ungrateful person is a proud person. If I'm ungrateful, I'm arrogant. And if I'm arrogant, I need to remember God doesn't sympathize with me in that arrogance; He's opposed to the proud.
Let each of us recognize every day that whatever grace we receive from God is so much more than we're worthy of, and indescribably better than the hell we all deserve."
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