What do these surprising political headlines from the weekend have in common?
In each case, you have to be grateful for what is being reported to experience the news as good news. If you’re not a fan of Mr. Trump or Ms. Greene, if you don’t find New York City or Texas state politics relevant, or if you’re not interested in the cultural narrative illustrated by the Orthodox Church’s rising popularity, you won’t click on the links.
Here’s why this theme matters this Thanksgiving week and every week.
How God treated my migraine in Cuba
Gratitude is the pathway to flourishing. It’s not enough to have the resources necessary for happiness—we must be grateful for these resources to experience their full benefit.
Consider a mundane illustration: My wife sent me to our bank the other day to draw out some cash from the ATM. The machine asked how much I wanted. I asked the screen what the maximum amount was. It told me $800, so I asked for that amount. It then canceled my transaction. When I went inside the bank to see what had gone wrong, I was informed that $500 is the maximum amount you can withdraw, a fact lost on the ATM’s messaging system.
I was frustrated by this technological snafu, but I had been contemplating today’s theme for a few days and remembered it in that moment. I therefore made myself express gratitude for a bank that holds our money, ATM technology that dispenses it, and enough money to be able to withdraw what we needed.
My friends in Cuba would not share my frustration. A recent article in the Economist profiles the ongoing crisis gripping their island nation: electricity usually does not work, and water is often unavailable for drinking, cooking, washing, or even flushing a toilet. According to one study, 89 percent of Cuban families live in extreme poverty; only 3 percent can get the medicine they need at pharmacies.
Over my many preaching trips to the island, however, I have seen Cuban Christians adapt to their challenges. Without electricity, they open the windows of their worship centers and praise God by sunlight and candlelight. Without government support, they grow their own food and share it with each other. Without medicines, they pray for healing.
During one of my trips, I developed a migraine headache one evening. There was no aspirin or other medicine to be found, so the pastor brought an elderly member of his church to see me in my hotel room. “Brother Ben” anointed my forehead with oil and prayed for me, and my headache vanished.
Our Cuban sisters and brothers have taken to heart the biblical command, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Their gratitude helps them identify God’s blessings and then enables them to experience his gifts personally.
Displacing bad behavior with good behavior
This principle is rooted in basic human nature.
Many years ago, an article by the New York Times columnist David Brooks explained our theme. According to Brooks, “There’s a trove of research suggesting that it’s best to tackle negative behaviors obliquely, by redirecting attention toward different, positive ones.” He added, “Don’t try to bludgeon bad behavior. Change the underlying context. Change the behavior triggers. Displace bad behavior with different good behavior.”
In other words, when we are frustrated, disappointed, or otherwise challenged, choose to “give thanks in all circumstances.” Look for a reason to be grateful even in the midst of disappointment or pain.
You may be in the hospital, but you can be grateful that hospitals exist and that you are receiving medical care. You might be grieving the end of your marriage, but you can look for whatever good came from your relationship and be thankful for it. You could be facing your first Thanksgiving without a loved one, but you can remember wonderful times together and focus on the fact that every day is Thanksgiving for those who dwell in God’s glorious paradise.
When we do this, we experience more than the pleasurable emotions resulting from the dopamine and serotonin released in our brains by gratitude: we position ourselves to experience personally the blessings we remember.
“Changed” or “exchanged”?
This principle applies most of all to our ultimate purpose in life. Oswald Chambers observed, “The miracle of redemption is that God turns me, the unholy one, into the standard of himself, the Holy One, by putting into me a new disposition, the disposition of Jesus Christ.”
Being “born again” is therefore not just metaphorical but real (John 3:3). Jesus remakes us as God’s children (John 1:12) and infuses us with his Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16). When we mentally replace our fallen nature with his perfection, seeking to manifest his character and continue his earthly ministry, his Spirit does something mystical and even miraculous in us.
Watchman Nee was right: “We think of the Christian life as a ‘changed life,’ but it is not that. What God offers us is an ‘exchanged life,’ a ‘substituted life,’ and Christ is our Substitute within.”
Remember the impact Jesus made in his incarnation. Now imagine his impact through yours.
Our omnipotent Lord cannot be Lord of our lives without changing our lives (cf. Acts 4:13). However, as Tim Keller noted,
“If God is not at the center of your life, something else is.”
Would those who know you say God is at the “center of your life” today?
If not, why not?
Quote for the day:
“Outside Christ, I am empty. In Christ, I am full.” —Watchman Nee
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