Practicing Thankfulness E-Book

Sam Crabtree

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

Christians are called to be thankful. What we believe about God is evident in how we exhibit thankfulness for all he has done. In this book, pastor Sam Crabtree encourages us to express glad-hearted thankfulness for God's unending provision in all circumstances. Through the daily practices of expressing gratitude—saying "thank you" to a neighbor, serving others in practical ways, or simply thanking God for his many gifts—we recognize the absolute and total lordship of God and his sovereignty over all things.

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“After more than fifty years living as a quadriplegic, I can definitely say that godly gratitude is the key to contentment. It’s why I am so excited about Sam Crabtree’s Practicing Thankfulness. This remarkable work provides thorough biblical support as to how God-focused gratitude alters a Christian’s orientation to himself, to others, and ultimately to the Lord himself. The pages are filled with practical guidelines to help a believer seize every life situation as a powerful opportunity to cultivate a glad and thankful heart. I give Practicing Thankfulness a double thumbs-up!”

Joni Eareckson Tada, Founder and CEO, Joni and Friends International Disability Center; author, Joni; A Place of Healing; and When God Weeps

“Christians have much to be thankful for—more than we could possibly imagine. But knowing we should be thankful isn’t the same thing as living a life marked by thankfulness and gratitude. Sam Crabtree provides a helpful and essential book that reminds Christians of what we have received in Christ and in the gospel as well as practical steps to cultivate a thankful heart. We should be thankful for this book.”

R. Albert Mohler Jr., President, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

“As I read Practicing Thankfulness, I was freshly inspired by the beauty, necessity, and power of a grateful lifestyle and found myself thinking, Every believer needs to read this book. Not long ago, my precious husband, Robert, and I were plunged into turbulent waters as he was faced with two back-to-back cancer diagnoses (during a pandemic). Through it all, even in the midst of the most difficult days, gratitude has been a life preserver for our hearts, has transformed our perspective, and has infused us with unexplainable peace and joy. This terrific book will show you how thankfulness can do the same for you.”

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, author; Founder, Revive Our Hearts and True Woman

“What a spiritually refreshing book this is! Reasoning from dozens of passages of Scripture, and showing substantial theological insight, Sam Crabtree explains blessing after blessing that come from a heart filled with continual thanksgiving, even in hardship. This is the best treatment of thanksgiving I have ever read. Highly recommended!”

Wayne Grudem, Distinguished Research Professor of Theology and Biblical Studies, Phoenix Seminary

“With theological precision and pastoral wisdom, Sam Crabtree helps us understand why it matters that our hearts are overflowing with thankfulness to God and how we can cultivate this godly grace in our lives. For many of us, this will be the most important book we read this year.”

Bob Lepine, Cohost, FamilyLife Today; Teaching Pastor, Redeemer Community Church, Little Rock, Arkansas

“In the midst of uncertain days we take comfort in the certainty of Christ’s love for us. We have so much to be thankful for! Many of us are asking along with the psalmist: ‘What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me?’ The answer to this question is authoritatively inscribed in Psalm 116 and beautifully illustrated here in Practicing Thankfulness. Powerful and practical, this book is an invitation to come and see and enjoy what the Lord has done, lifting up the cup of salvation in response.”

Gloria Furman, author, Alive in Him and Labor with Hope

“An attitude of gratitude is always in season. And I want to be around anyone who reminds me of this. Sam Crabtree is that guy. In this book, he has given us a well-crafted, engaging, thoughtful, and, most importantly, biblical look into thanksgiving (not the holiday, but the Christian virtue and lifestyle). He reminds us that God is great, and so we worship him. God is good, and so we give thanks. Amen! Not many books are solely designed to encourage thankfulness. This is one, and thus deserves your attention and a place on your bookshelf. But before you put it there, read it. It will remind you of the importance of giving thanks to God for everything, beginning with this book.”

Anthony J. Carter, Lead Pastor, East Point Church, East Point, Georgia

“Giving thanks is not theoretical for Sam Crabtree. He knows it. He lives it. And now he’s studied it and labored to put one of his life’s works into these pages for you to enjoy. Those of us who have long known Sam and labored with him in pastoral ministry have seen the message of this book in action. And now we get to go behind the curtain and see more of what makes Sam such an example of Christian gratitude. Neither he nor his fellow pastors will pretend that he’s a perfect example, but in a day in which so many seem to be sinking deeper and deeper into cynicism and ingratitude, Sam is a genuine model and gifted teacher of giving thanks.”

David Mathis, Senior Teacher and Executive Editor, desiringGod.org; Pastor, Cities Church, Saint Paul, Minnesota; author, Habits of Grace

“I thank God for Sam Crabtree. He is a wise and jovial brother who practices what he preaches in this book: he gives thanks in all circumstances. (Don’t miss the last chapter—a creative list of one hundred practical ways to be thankful.)”

Andy Naselli, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology and New Testament, Bethlehem College & Seminary; Pastor, Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis

Practicing Thankfulness

Practicing Thankfulness

Cultivating a Grateful Heart in All Circumstances

Sam Crabtree

Practicing Thankfulness: Cultivating a Grateful Heart in All Circumstances

Copyright © 2021 by Sam Crabtree

Published by Crossway1300 Crescent StreetWheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. Crossway® is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

Published in association with the literary agency of Wolgemuth & Associates, Inc.

Cover Design: Spencer Fuller, Faceout Studios

First printing 2021

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible. Public domain.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-6931-9 ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-6933-3 PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-6932-6 Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-6933-3

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Crabtree, Sam, 1950– author.  

Title: Practicing thankfulness : cultivating a grateful heart in all circumstances / Sam Crabtree.  

Description: Wheaton, Illinois : Crossway, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references and index. 

Identifiers: LCCN 2020024965 (print) | LCCN 2020024966 (ebook) | ISBN 9781433569319 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781433569326 (pdf) | ISBN 9781433569333 (mobipocket) | ISBN 9781433569333 (epub)  

Subjects: LCSH: Gratitude—Religious aspects—Christianity. 

Classification: LCC BV4647.G8 C73 2021  (print) | LCC BV4647.G8  (ebook) | DDC 241/.4—dc23 

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020024965

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020024966

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

2020-12-31 09:49:29 AM

“The righteous flourish like the palm tree

and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. . . .

They still bear fruit in old age;

they are ever full of sap and green.”

Psalm 92:12, 14

Contents

Introduction: Where Life Pivots

 1  The Rightness of Gratitude

 2  The Wisdom of Gratitude

 3  Portrait of a Grateful Heart

 4  The Fruitfulness of Gratitude

 5  Dangers of Ingratitude

 6  Thankfulness in Action

 7  Thankfulness and Contentment

 8  Thankfulness and Wonder

 9  Thankfulness and Suffering

10  Hindrances to Thankfulness

11  Various Questions about Thankfulness

12  One Hundred Ways to Be Thankful

Acknowledged with Thanks

General Index

Scripture Index

Introduction

Where Life Pivots

Thankfulness is neither trivial nor inconsequential. On this one quality pivots the difference between maturity and immaturity.

What do I mean by pivot? A gate pivots on a hinge so that it swings one way to open the path and another way to shut you out. Wars can pivot on a single battle, so that one side decisively takes the upper hand when the outcome previously was in doubt. Ask Napoleon about Wellington at Waterloo, or Hitler about parachutes at Normandy. The war seemed to be going in one direction, then wham!—things took a sudden and decisive turn.

Gratitude is pivotal in whether I’ll be given over to folly. It is decisive.

I dread becoming a bitter old sourpuss in old age. How will I escape it?

More than a mere word, gratitude reveals each person’s core—his priorities, his presuppositions, his understanding of God and his ways. As Al Mohler puts it, how grateful we are is “the key to understanding what we really believe about God, what we really believe about ourselves, and what we really believe about the world we experience.”1 Accordingly, between gratefulness to God and indifference toward him lies the distinction between wisdom and folly. The pivot. Everyone’s entire future swings like a hinge on whether thankfulness is lubricated to swing easily—or if it is ignored, becoming encrusted by the rust and corrosion of our heart’s indifference, bitterness, or some self-inflated sense of entitlement.

Thankfulness is not just a religious duty, or a task on a list, or something nice people do, or a simple protocol of good manners to be taught to children. Rather, thankfulness is a powerful force. It wins or loses the war for your future. When practiced, it works toward beauty and produces fruit. When ignored, it works toward ugliness and chokes out life. At stake is the vitality of every human relationship, without exception.

Whether we are aware of it or not, we’re always moving toward either the satisfaction of an ultimately unspeakable joy or the pain of excruciating regret. These are the ultimate consequences of either gratitude or ingratitude. This movement toward one or the other may be swift and unmistakably evident, or it may be slow and incremental, nearly invisible—but it always means (wittingly or unwittingly) heaping up either pleasures or sorrows every step of the way.

These dynamics linked directly to gratitude are not optional. They’re always in play. A person might choose not to give thanks, but he cannot choose the consequences that will inevitably flow from such a choice.

The workings of thankfulness we’re unpacking in these pages have massively broad implications and profoundly deep roots. I repeat: gratitude is downright life-pivoting.

But (you may be thinking) isn’t thankfulness already well understood? Isn’t it routinely practiced by practically every civil human person around the world? And especially by Christians?

To a certain extent, yes. But just as a fire eventually flickers and dies out if left untended, gratitude can easily weaken and fade away if ignored in a world of distractions, busyness, and painful troubles. Daily life throws cold water on the smoldering embers of gratefulness in our hearts. This book seeks to rekindle that fire.

This book is for two kinds of people. It’s for those who have doubts about God’s goodness, and who therefore don’t often feel grateful. And it’s for those who believe God is good but want to grow in their faithful expression of appreciation for that goodness; they want to be more earnest and creative in thanking God as well as thanking those who are instruments in his hands. They’re dead serious about wanting to produce the fruit that gratefulness can produce. They’re hopeful. The aim here is to minimize your future regret and enlarge your future well-being by fostering your appreciation for all that God is doing.

I assume you already know that you should give thanks, and also that you know the basics of how to do it. While we’ll explore in this book the influences at work in hearts that are grateful, our main purpose here is finding encouragement and guidance to get on with giving thanks. I want to encourage you to do what you already know is good: practice thankfulness.

1  Albert Mohler, “Thanksgiving as Theological Act: What Does It Mean to Give Thanks?,” AlbertMohler.com, November 23, 2016, https://albertmohler.com/2016/11/23/thanksgiving-theological-act-mean-give-thanks/.

1

The Rightness of Gratitude

Picture yourself in this situation: You’ve served a long time on death row in a dark and dank medieval dungeon, and your execution is imminent. You smell. No, you stink. It’s too dark to see. What must you look like? Your clothing long ago turned to filthy rags, and the slimy stone cell reeks of excrement. A day arrives (remember daylight?) when you hear the footsteps of a guard approaching. A key rattles in the lock, the door swings open, and the guard growls, “Somebody has paid your ransom. You’re free.”

What?

As you stumble up the steps out of the dungeon, you turn to ask him, “Ransom? What was the ransom price he paid?”

The guard mutters, “Your ransomer had to die in your place.”

“When will that happen?” you ask.

“It’s done.” He waves his hand to keep you climbing the stone stairs.

Stunned, you move toward the last doorway to the outside, where you ask one more question: “How did he die?”

“He died the way he knew he would,” the guard replies. “He was butchered alive.”

What a price to willingly pay! Wouldn’t a proper response be thankfulness multiplied exponentially by amazement? And in your freedom and amazement, wouldn’t you run to your friends—to everyone—and enthusiastically exclaim how grateful you are?

Christ pays the price, and is the price, as he himself told us: “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28). He paid the debt he didn’t owe for captives who owed a debt they couldn’t pay. How fitting for thankfulness to erupt from prisoners thus freed!

Paul described his own salvation—his own “prison escape”—in the following words, where his worship of God begins specifically with thanksgiving:

I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. (1 Tim. 1:12–15)

We Are Always Recipients

Not only our salvation (which is of incalculable worth, and “deserving of full acceptance”), but all that everyone has is from the hand of God: “He himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:25). God brings us into existence and sustains us (with or without our awareness)—we are thus recipients twenty-four seven. In every aspect of our lives, we’re beneficiaries. How fitting, then, for beneficiaries to express flabbergasted appreciation to their benefactor. And how wrongheaded to fail to do so! Such appreciation or lack thereof is not benign, like whether you part your hair on the right or left. No. Like a continental divide determining whether adjacent raindrops flow to the Atlantic or the Pacific, gratitude and ingratitude are a dividing line, bringing vastly different outcomes, as we shall see later in this book.

Paul rhetorically asks the Corinthians (and us), “What do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Cor. 4:7), the correct answer being obvious. If everything we have is received, then the giving of thanks for everything is fitting.

God has not only supplied everything we currently have, but in the future he’ll supply everything we will ever have. “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32). There will never be an end run around his provision. If God doesn’t supply something, we won’t have it. There will never be an occasion when we rightly think, “I don’t need to thank God for that, because it didn’t come from him.” The soul that is vibrant and aware will gratefully recognize God’s gifts more and more, as more and more of his grace arrives.

God owes us none of this. He never has. Not a thing. All that we have is by grace—undeserved, unearned, and even unsolicited. God has supplied each of us with a zillion things we never requested or had the good sense to order in advance. Did you request two kidneys? Two? Tear ducts that lubricate your eyeballs? An ozone layer around the planet? Synapses in your brain? No. He just gave them to us.

Such incalculable generosity calls for a response. How are we responding? The right response is gratitude—thankfulness. What is gratitude?

Gratitude is the divinely given spiritual ability to see grace, and the corresponding desire to affirm it and its giver as good.

In fact, the New Testament words we translate as “grace” and “gratitude” have the same Greek root.

God Wastes Nothing

God is always at work for his own glory as well as for our good—everywhere, all the time. And he wastes nothing he does; he’s working everything for our blessing and benefit: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good” (Rom. 8:28). Paul says we know