Abstinence from Whine

I love Jesus and I love sensing His presence. These are two key reasons I love thanksgiving so much! The Christian discipline of thanksgiving invites Jesus to be more present in our lives. Thanksgiving is a welcome mat for Christ. The psalmist wrote, “Enter His gates with thanksgiving. Enter His courts with praise. Give thanks to him; bless his name” (Psalm 100:4).  

Though Christ lives with believers always, His presence is greater when we remember what He has done in our lives. When we thank Christ, we honor and acknowledge Him. We welcome God to continue to be a part of our lives. Often, we better understand God’s nature and heart for us as we meditate on His works. The remedy for a closed and distracted heart is the welcome mat of thanksgiving. Thanksgiving welcomes a greater measure of Jesus’ presence into our lives.

Just as thanksgiving attracts Christ’s presence, whining and complaining attract the wrong kind of presence. Whining and complaining focus our minds on what we perceive God has not done. Through a complaining mindset, the enemy of our souls convinces us that we are missing something, maybe something we feel is rightfully ours. A complaining mindset opens the door to the liar who wants us to question God’s motives. “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4-5). The devil was tempting Eve to believe, “God is really not concerned about your best interest. God is holding out on you. He is trying to keep you from being like Him.”  When we complain, we question God’s heart toward us and welcome the father of lies to deceive us more. 

Thanksgiving attacks whining with vengeance. Giving thanks focuses on God and what He has done, not on what the enemy would accuse God of not doing. Thanksgiving acknowledges God’s goodness in our lives. It leads us to God’s perspective, and thus to joy, even in difficult circumstances.  David Steindl-Rast notes, “The root of joy is gratefulness . . . It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.”[1]

This Thanksgiving, let’s focus on what God has done and is doing!

Let’s rejoice that thorns have roses, rather than complain that roses have thorns.

Let’s be grateful for umbrellas and roofs over our heads, rather than curse the rain. 

Let’s give thanks for what we do have instead of grumbling about what we don’t.  

Let’s also be thankful for His presence that never leaves us, even when we face trials and circumstances we do not understand.  

May we not only abstain from whine, but also drink of the joy Christ’s presence gives!

[1] Ruthless Trust, Brennan Manning, p. 33