It doesn't take much to expose my wicked heart. God doesn't need to toss me into prison or break my fibula to reveal the discontentment that lurks in my inner recesses. Sometimes all it takes is my wife Kristi telling me what's for dinner when I get home from work. "I thought we'd have leftovers tonight," she says on rare occasions. I sigh, and offer up a barely audible "great,” mustering as much excitement as if she'd told me we were having roadkill.

Why am I so ungrateful at times? Discontentment reveals that I am taking delight in something other than Jesus Christ. It shows that I'm looking to my circumstances for my joy, not to the God of my salvation.

This is just the opposite of a woman Charles Spurgeon spoke of:

"I have heard of some good old woman in a cottage, who had nothing but a piece of bread and a little water. Lifting up her hands, she said as a blessing, "What! All this, and Christ too?"

This woman realized that Jesus Christ was her all in all. He was her bread of life, her spring of living water. Jesus was her treasure and all her joy was in him. That's why she could rejoice in a crust of bread and a little water. Her joy came from Jesus, not her circumstances.

When we look to the things of this world to provide our joy we will always be disappointed, for we have been designed to find our satisfaction in God alone:

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;
and he who has no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food" (Isaiah 55:1-2).

God tells us not to spend our money for that which is not bread – in other words, don’t live for the things of this world. They are like plastic fruit, which might look tasty, but won’t satisfy. But pursue him who truly satisfies, Jesus Christ, the bread of life. If we have Jesus then we don't need anything else. If we have Jesus, then all other blessings are just extras - icing on the cake.

If the poor woman Spurgeon mentioned could rejoice over a crust of bread, how much more should we be thankful who have Christ plus a thousand other blessings in our lives. How about you? Can you say this about your life today - “What! All this, and Christ too?”

I resolve by God's grace, that the next time Kristi informs me that we are having leftovers, I will lift up my hands and joyfully declare, "What! All this, and Christ too?"

When was the last time you took a blessings inventory? I recently found myself sitting in my living room, feeling sorry for myself because of some unexpected expenses which were going to cramp my Christmas style. In other words, I wasn't going to be able to buy and get as much stuff this year. And then I took a look around my living room and realized what a pudding-headed blockhead I was, and sadly, how ungrateful I was. I was sitting in the lap of luxury, surrounded by countless, undeserved blessings, and I was feeling sorry for myself. It was time to do a blessings inventory. Here's some of the things I came up with:

Salvation:
The sweetest of all blessings, the deepest of all mercies. I was once an enemy of God, now I'm His child. He has sought me out and drawn me to Himself. He has washed me in the blood of His precious Son and clothed me in robes of righteousness. I'm forgiven and free. I've been brought into a soul-satisfying relationship with the Creator of the universe. What else do I need to be happy?

My wife Jen:
I have the most wonderful wife in the universe. She loves Jesus and serves Him with all her heart. She cares for me, and cares for our daughter with the deepest affection. She's full of joy and always willing to laugh at my utterly stupid jokes. She beats me at Boggle...sometimes. I don't deserve her.

My daughter Charis:
Not only do I have the most wonderful wife, I also have the sweetest daughter. She's three month's old, bald, cuter than the cutest thing you can think of, and smiles a lot. She makes my heart happy. Undeserved blessing.

My job:
I can go to work every single day and make sums of money that would make 2/3 of the world jealous. My job allows me to provide food and clothes for my family. My job allows me to get good health care, and to buy coffee at Starbuck's. I don't deserve a job.

My health:
By God's grace, I'm a pretty healthy guy. The illnesses I deal with are nothing compared to what many people endure. I deal with colds, they deal with cancer. I deal with a sore back, they deal with paralysis. I deal with allergies, they deal with blindness. I deserve terrible health, but instead God has given me good health.

My house:
I live in a house that's full of furniture, has a comfortable bed, and has a large television. I stay warm in the winter. I take hot showers and watch football games. I invite friends over to play XBox 360. I deserve to be on the streets with no home, no warmth, and no friends. Instead I find myself living in luxury.

This list could go on, and should include my church, my friends, my family, coffee, the Pittsburgh Steelers, Christmas Trees, email, and a thousand other blessings. Even if there wasn't a single present under my tree this year, I should be happy. I'm blessed beyond measure. God has been good to this wicked sinner.

When was the last time you took a blessings inventory? If you find yourself feeling ungrateful, now's the time to do it.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits - Psalm 103:2

Thanksgiving is a day to remember all God’s benefits and blessings. In Christ believers receive innumerable spiritual blessings and benefits. Who can calculate all God’s kindnesses and mercies to us in Jesus? Forgiveness, justification, fellowship with God, joy inexpressible and full of glory, the hope of seeing Christ’s face are but a few of his incredible blessings.

Thanksgiving is also a day we can thank God for his “common grace”. Common grace is the kindness God shows to all men, saved and unsaved. “For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good" (Mt. 5:45). I recently read a story of God’s mercy in the Mexican war in 1846. It is recounted in the book Blood and Thunder by Hampton Sides.

General Stephen Watts Kearny led a force of 100 dragoons to fight against a few hundred Mexican caballeros led by Capt. Andres Pico in the Battle of San Pasqual. The dragoons were confident their guns would decimate the Mexicans who were armed primarily with lances, but discovered in the heat of battle that their ammunition had gotten damp during the night, and their guns wouldn’t fire. The Mexican lances shredded the Americans. The Americans who escaped camped on a hill called Mule Hill surrounded by the enemy, awaiting reinforcements.

Sides says that many were wounded and “had developed gangrene or horrible infections in the deep punctures left by the lances.” Then he tells this story which displays God’s mercy to a dying soldier.

One member of the party, a French trapper named Robideaux who had lost a great amount of blood was hovering near death. The men had more or less written off the poor fellow, who in his death agonies kept hallucinating that he smelled coffee—a luxury no one traveling with Kearny had seen or tasted in months. “Don’t you smell it?” Robideaux beseeched them. “A cup of coffee would save my life!”

Everyone knew that the mountain men were all inveterate coffee addicts—especially the French—so Lieutenant Emory believed that the doomed man was simply exercising a final Gallic nostalgia before passing on to his reward. “I supposed a dream had carried him back to the cafes of St. Louis and New Orleans,” Emory said.

But he was soon shocked to find that Robideaux was right—somewhere in the camp a cook was indeed heating up a cup of coffee over a sagebrush fire. Emory went over and persuaded him to give it up to the dying Frenchman. Says Emory: “One of the most agreeable little offices performed in my life, and I believe in the cook’s , was to pour this precious draught into the waning body of our friend Robideaux. His warmth returned, and with it hopes of life.” Robideaux soon recovered and swore for the rest of his days that he owed his life to coffee.” (p. 164)

I love this story. In his mercy, God gave a dying French trapper a cup of coffee and many more days of life. As you’re enjoying your Thanksgiving feast today thank God for his kindness in saving you through the blood of Jesus, and thank him for his common grace and goodness in giving us blessings like food and drink. I know that after I finish my turkey, I’ll cry out to my wife Kristi, “A cup of coffee would save my life!”

photo: Beth Altrogge

I recently watched a inspiring/sad documentary called "God Grew Tired Of Us" (watch the trailer here), which follows the lives of several young men from Sudan. These men had been separated from their families by violence, and some of the boys had even seen their families executed before their very eyes. They had no hope of returning to Sudan, and very little hope of seeing their surviving family members again. But for a few, there was hope. A small handful of the boys were given the opportunity to move to the United States where they would work to establish a new life for themselves. In the United States they would get jobs, earn money, and perhaps even go to school.

At one point in the movie a young man named Jon Bul Dau finds out that some members of his family, including his mother, are still alive, living in another African country. Jon was planning on attending a local community college, but when he heard of his surviving family, he put his education to the side and threw himself into work, striving to save up enough money to bring his family to America. He worked two brutal jobs, spending a full, backbreaking day in a factory and then spending his evenings cooking hamburgers in a McDonald's. Yet what was Jon's response when asked about working double shifts every day? "It is wonderful, it is wonderful" he said. "It is generating income."

My heart was challenged by Jon's gratefulness. Colossians 2:7 commands us to be "...abounding in thanksgiving." Jon Bul Dau was clearly abounding in thanksgiving, even in the midst of miserable working conditions. He was working 16 hours a day at two mind-numbing, low-paying jobs, yet he was deeply grateful. Why? He realized what a blessing it was to make money. And the most challenging thing is, I'm not even sure if Jon Bul Dau is a Christian.

I work a mere eight hours a day and find myself complaining. I'm blessed with enough money to buy food and clothes, and to support my family, but I don't give thanks to God. I live a relatively pain-free life in the richest country on earth, yet my heart is quick to complain. Oh how I want to change in this area. I want to be abounding in thanksgiving for my job. When I go to work, I want my heart to overflow with joy, because I can provide for my family. There are billions of people around the world who would love to have my job, because it would allow them to put food in the bellies of their children. I want to thank God for providing for me.

When was the last time you thanked God for your job? When was the last time you rejoiced on your way to work? If you're a stay-at-home mom, when was the last time you rejoiced in your husband's job? We serve an incredibly generous God. Let's be abounding in thankfulness towards Him.

Did you ever realize that you're surrounded by dead people? Everywhere you turn, you see people that are literally dead. What exactly am I talking about? Hear the words of Ephesians 2:1-3

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience - among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

This past weekend was homecoming at the local university, and as I saw one stone drunk college student after another stumble past my house, I was reminded that I'm surrounded by spiritually dead people. I saw hundreds of college students passionately indulging in sin, pursuing the very things that would make them unhappy, and I was reminded that this world is a spiritual morgue. The truth is, I'm surrounded by millions of people who are dead.

Which brings me to the question of the millennium: why am I alive? I too was once dead in my sins. I too was an object of the wrath of God, doomed to hell and destined to pursue the fleeting joys of this world. But for some reason God chose to save me. God breathed life into my spiritually dead soul, and made me spiritually alive.

I go into the grocery store and I give money to a dead cashier. I go out to dinner with my wife, and exchange pleasantries with a dead waiter. I talk to my neighbors...who are dead. But praise be to God, He made me alive. I will forever sing the praises of the One who made me alive. The only response to such grace is abundant gratefulness.

Growing up, Thanksgiving was always a special day in my family. It began with the legendary "Cowboy Breakfast". To understand the Cowboy Breakfast you must first understand that my dad placed a strong emphasis on manners around the table. He taught me to chew with my mouth closed, to avoid biting my fork, and even to break my bread in half before buttering it, which I'm not sure is a real manner at all. To this day I'm grateful that I learned good manners. But during the Cowboy Breakfast, all manners went out the window. We ate with our fingers, belched passionately, and chewed with our jaws hanging wide open. We ate like cowboys, and we loved it.

There is one Thanksgiving that I remember particularly well, not because of the breakfast but because of what happened after breakfast. Dad brought us all together in the living room and told us that we were going to make a list of all the things we were grateful for, and for the next twenty minutes we rattled off one thing after another. Many items appeared on that two-page list, but one topped them all. At one point my brother David, who was only about 5 at the time, announced that he was grateful that dinosaurs didn't come into the house. I'm sure you can see why he was grateful. Nobody, especially me, wants a T-Rex hanging out in the house.

I want my life to be like that list. Recently I read Colossians 2:6-7 which says, "Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving." The words "abounding in thanksgiving" arrested me. I have so much to be grateful for, and yet I'm not abounding in thanksgiving. In fact, I'm often abounding in complaining. But I want that to change. I want to be abounding, overflowing, and bursting with thanks. I want thanks to God to be the natural response to His many blessings. I want to abound in thanksgiving for the gospel, my salvation, my house, my food, my wife, my daughter, my job, this country, my health, and the thousands of other blessings that I've received. And so by God's grace, I will grow in thanksgiving, starting today.

Do you abound in thanksgiving? Does thanks to God flow from your lips on a regular basis? Take time today to give thanks to God for specific blessings. Thank Him for saving you and delivering you from your sins. Thank Him for the glorious gospel. Join with me today in being abundantly thankful!

As of July 13th, 2007, I have sent 269 emails. Some of them were profound, some of them were profoundly stupid. Through these emails I was able to encourage people, maintain friendships, mock close friends, tell my wife I love her, and communicate messages to large groups of people. I love email. I'm so grateful for it, and I honestly am not quite sure how I functioned without it. Did I ever get anything of value accomplished before email? Possibly, but not likely. Yes, I realize some of you despise email and would rather have major surgery than check your email, but not me. I love it.

Ponder for a moment the incredible blessing of technology, and especially the Internet. Because of the Internet, I can listen to every sermon ever given by John Piper, read a blog written by Bob Kauflin, and find out what it means when it feels like my stomach is about to explode (via WebMD). I can communicate quickly and efficiently via email, do international phone calls for free with Skype, and send pictures to my family. I can put money into my bank account, pay off my credit card, and give money to the poor through organizations like World Vision.

Isn't God kind to give us the gift of technology? Friends, right now you are experiencing the gift of technology. God did not have to give us this gift. There are millions of people throughout the world who don't have access to email or the internet, and in turn don't have access to the wonderful resources that we do. But we serve an extravagantly generous God, who, because of the cross, is eager to pour out blessings on us.

As you surf the web, or check your email, or read blogs, or edit digital photos, give thanks to the Lord for the wonderful gift of technology. Thank Him for giving you access to thousands of outstanding Christian resources via the web. Thank Him for giving you the convenience of sending email and the pleasure of reading the news online. We serve a kind God. Let us give thanks.

"For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit..." - Titus 3:3-5

I have some incredible friends (you know who you are). I simply love spending time with these guys. We laugh together, we laugh at each other, we play video games together, we eat wings together, we encourage one another, we correct one another, we bear one another's burdens, and we experience true fellowship together. I treasure the friendship of each of these men. They are a gift to me.

But the truth is, apart from Christ's redemptive work in my life, I would not enjoy fellowship with these men. In fact, I would hate them, and they would hate me. I wouldn't want to be with them. There would be no sweet fellowship, no encouragement, no correction. Just hatred.

But oh how sweet is the power of the gospel. When Christ saved me, all my relationships changed. First and foremost, my relationship with God Himself changed. I was once an enemy of God, now I'm His beloved child. I was once a God hater, now I'm a God lover. I was under the furious wrath of God. Now I know nothing but love.

My relationships with others changed as well. The Spirit of God causes me to experience sweet, soul-satisfying fellowship with other Christians. Where as once I would have despised spending time with other Christians, now I long for it and treasure it. Prior to conversion, my sinful pride would have caused me to isolate myself from others. Now the Spirit of God moves me to bring others into my life. And to top it all off, God gives me friends who I absolutely love spending time with.

Isn't God kind to us? When was the last time that you thanked God for a specific friendship? When was the last time that you expressed your gratefulness to God for the people in your life? The next time you find yourself enjoying an evening with friends, pause for a moment and lift a prayer of gratitude to our generous God. We deserve Hell, instead He gave us friends.

I had a bad headache recently. You know the kind I'm talking about. You're head throbs, your temples pulse, and all you want to do is lay down on the couch. Headaches of this sort can be debilitating, forcing you to bed until the pain finally passes. Headaches are miserable.

But there is a wonderful little pill called Ibuprofen that does incredible things. Within hours of taking three Ibuprofen, my headache was gone, a distant memory of a less pleasurable time. And Ibuprofen is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the medicines available to me. At any given pharmacy I can purchase medicine that will relieve heartburn, prevent cuts from becoming infected, clear nasal congestion, help me sleep, keep me awake, reduce the length of a cold, kill a fever, and on and on. There is a medicine for virtually every sickness that I face.

Friends, medicine is a wonderful gift from an incredibly generous God. The truth is, we deserve pain. In fact, because of our sin, we deserve hell. God has no need to spare us from the pains that so often rack our bodies. We deserve our infections, and colds, and allergies, and headaches, and sore throats, and joint pains. Yet we serve an astonishingly kind and tender God who gives us medicine to relieve our pain. Oh what a blessing it is to take Tylenol! He doesn't owe us relief from our pain, yet in His generosity He supplies us with pain relievers.

The next time you take medicine, lift your heart in gratitude to the God who provided it. Thank Him for His incredible kindness and mercy in providing relief from pain. Each Ibuprofen you swallow is a gift from God.

In the summer of 2005 I saw the band Coldplay in concert, and it was the best concert I've ever seen. Coldplay is not a Christian band, and I don't endorse all their lyrics, but I love their music. God has given Chris Martin (lead singer, songwriter) the gift of melody and song. He has given Chris the ability to combine notes in ways that stir my heart and grip my emotions. Listening to Coldplay brings me much pleasure and serves as an inspiration for my songwriting as well. And listening to Coldplay is an opportunity for me to thank God for the glorious gift of music.

Friends, music is a gift from our extravagantly lavish God. Think of how music affects your life. When you hear a good song, you hum along, you bob your head, and you drum the beat on your steering wheel. You lift your voice in loud song as you accompany whatever music you are listening to at the time. A beautiful melody fills you with joy, a driving beat energizes you, a simple melody makes you smile.

Music connects us with other people. We love to talk about our favorite bands, to play music together, to go to concerts together, and in some cases, to do karaoke together. In church we sing our praises to God together with the other members of our church.

Our culture is obsessed with music. We listen to music on our iPod, our cell phone, our satellite radio, our internet radio, and our good old-fashioned radio. Yet how often do we give thanks to God for the gift of music? I honestly can't remember the last time I thanked God for the pleasure of listening to Coldplay, or David Crowder, or Mozart, or Matt Redman. God has been so kind to give me music, yet I thank Him so infrequently for that gift.

Friends, let us resolve to thank God for the gift of music. The next time you pop in your headphones, pause for a moment and lift thanks to the Giver of music. Rejoice in the gift of music and lift praise to the Author of all music.

I have a new hobby: scooter riding. And yes, I realize that I just revealed what an extraordinary dork I am. But I don't care. I love riding my new scooter. It's blue, shiny, has a 50cc engine, and tops out at 40 mph, if I've got a good tailwind. I love the feeling of the wind blowing in my face, the pavement sliding along beneath me, and the bugs pinging off my helmet. I love the fact that it costs me $3.08 to fill up with gas and will ride for a week on one tank. I love the fact that I wear a helmet that resembles something out of the movie "Spaceballs", only slightly larger. I love just riding with no particular destination. I love my hobby.

On a recent ride, I was reflecting on God's kindness to give me such a pleasurable hobby. I don't deserve the joy that I experience when riding my scooter. I don't deserve the feeling of pure pleasure that comes as I cruise around the countryside. My sins merit wrath, furious, holy, unending, miserable, wrath. With my first sin, I forfeited all rights to any pleasure and any joy.

And yet because of the cross, I can enjoy riding my scooter as a gift from my extravagantly generous Father. The cross brings me into a new, beautiful relationship with God, where He is my loving Father and I am His child. Before conversion, I could not enjoy scooter riding (or any other good thing) as a gift from my Father. But now, because the blood of Jesus reconciles me to God, I can enjoy my scooter, and all my other hobbies as precious gifts from a generous God.

What hobbies do you enjoy? Photography? Hiking? Movie watching? Writing? Do you enjoy your hobbies as gifts from the Father? Are you full of gratefulness to our incredibly generous God? He has given us hobbies to enjoy because He deeply love us. As you enjoy your hobby today, take time to thank the glorious God who gives such pleasure.

Have you ever not been able to sleep? It's miserable. You lie awake in bed, watching the hours slide by, knowing that you're going to feel like a large piece of dirt in the morning. The next day you walk around in a semi-catatonic state, struggling to string together more than two coherent thoughts and guzzling coffee to keep from falling asleep at the keyboard. And things only get worse if you can't sleep the next night either.

The Bible talks about sleep. In Psalm 127:2 we read: " It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep." Sleep is a gift from a very kind God to undeserving sinners. Ponder for a moment the pleasures of sleep. How delightful it is to drift off into sleep after a hard day of work. How glorious it is to be refreshed and recharged after a full night of sleep. The health benefits of sleep are numerous and the dangers of neglecting sleep are many. Sleep also provides us with fresh perspective each morning. There are many times when I've gone to bed worried about a particular circumstance in my life. When I wake the next morning however, I find that my perspective has changed, and that what terrified me the night before no longer appears so ominous.

Friends, God is so kind to give us the gift of sleep. He bestows it upon us because He deeply loves us. Yet I often fall asleep without so much a word of thanks to the One who gives sleep. I slumber without a word of gratitude to the One who never slumbers. I want that to change. Will you seek to change with me? Before you fall asleep tonight, pause, and lift a prayer of thanks to God. Thank Him for the glorious gift of sleep, and then close your eyes for the glory of God.

My morning routine begins the same way every day. My alarm sounds at approximately 6:30 a.m., pulling me out of sweet dreamland and into the real world. Not wanting to wake my pregnant wife, I slap the alarm into silence and then struggle to open my eyes. The heaviness in my arms and legs makes me wonder for a few, brief moments if I was doing strenuous lifting in my sleep. Then I crawl out of bed and stumble my way into the shower. The shower helps wash the sleep from my brain, but my mind doesn't truly kick into gear until I take my first sip of coffee.

I love coffee. I love the beautiful brown color, the powerful, earthy aroma, and the semi-bitter taste of a well brewed cup. I love the feel of the hot liquid washing down my throat. I get much pleasure and joy from the simple act of drinking a cup of coffee. Yet how often do I thank God for the gift of coffee? He didn't need to give me coffee. He could have made everything bland and unexciting to the taste, but He didn't. In His kindness and creativity, He created coffee for the enjoyment of billions of people, including me. We serve an extravagantly generous God who loves to give extravagant gifts to those He created. Coffee is one of those gifts.

I have the opportunity to worship God with each cup of coffee that I drink. How? Colossians 3:17 makes it clear. It says, "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." We can drink coffee for the glory of God if our drinking is accompanied by thanksgiving to God. What a simple, yet profound thought. Each cup of coffee can be an occasion for worship and thanksgiving to God!

Let us give thanks to God today for the simple pleasure of drinking coffee. Or, if you're not a coffee fan, thank God for the other pleasures He allows you to enjoy. Let us give thanks for coffee, and orange juice, and bagels, and Frappucino's, and mocha lattes. In doing so, we will bring honor to God.