The Struggle to Be Grateful
Wretched man that I am!
Who will set me free from the body of this death?
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Romans 7:24-25a
We’ve had plenty to be thankful about this winter. Not much snow. Warmer than average temperatures. Good driving conditions. With the days getting longer and spring around the corner, my heart should be positively overflowing with gratitude. But it’s not.
Instead, I do plenty of complaining. About the miserable state of our gravel road. About how every mild day brings the stink bugs, box elder bugs, and Asian soy beetles out of the walls and into our old farmhouse. About the possibility of this winter’s mild, dry conditions morphing into a blistering hot, summer drought.
Yet I rarely express dissatisfaction with my penchant for complaining, even though plenty of scriptures warn against the practice. In Numbers, complaining earns the Israelites earn an extra forty years in the wilderness. Job describes his complaints as rebellion. Two of Jesus’ best buds, Peter and James, advise new Christians to stop complaining, too.
However, scripture doesn’t just warn against complaining. It tells us what to do instead. In Leviticus the priests are commanded to offer sacrifices of thanksgiving. The Psalms advise turning thanksgiving into song. Jesus gave thanks as he broke the bread that signified his imminent crucifixion. Over and over Paul tells believers to give thanks in everything, rejoice always, rejoice in everything.
Rejoice.
Rejoice.
Rejoice.
Still, complaining remains my default response unless the Holy Spirit exposes my ingratitude for the joy killer it is. When that happens, God breaks my heart. He shows me how complaining dims His glory, and Paul’s despair become mine.
Wretched woman that I am! Who will set me free from this body of death?
But Paul’s hope, spoken in his next breath, becomes mine as well.
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Christ, who gave thanks in the face of death.
Christ on the cross.
Christ in the tomb.
Christ, risen from the dead.
Christ, who sits on the right hand of the Father and intercedes on my behalf.
Christ is my hope and weapon and protection as I struggle with ingratitude.
Christ, not the weather or other circumstances, is a reason to give thanks always.
Lord, may you be a reason for rejoicing in my life and in the lives of all who love you. Amen.
