John Calvin warns us in his Institutes*, however, that we have our priorities backward. If we are negative toward life, he argues, we are guilty of “grave ingratitude” toward a God who is with us every day (III.IX.3). If we know that the life we live, as bad as it can be, is finally a gift of God’s kindness, we are obligated to be thankful.
In Calvin’s opinion, there is no hiatus between asking and beseeching God in prayer and giving thanks. They are so closely connected that they should be included under one name (III.XX.28). We ask God for what we want but give thanks for all the good things we know will come. No matter what happens, we should be still aware of all the benefits poured out on us. “In short, we are well-nigh overwhelmed by so great and so plenteous an outpouring of benefactions, by so many and mighty miracles discerned wherever one looks, that we never lack reason and occasion for praise and thanksgiving.”
Paul tells us to pray and give thanks without ceasing at one and the same time (1 Thessalonians 5:17-18) because he wants Christians to lift up their voices to God with constancy and to expect all things from the God who offers us “unfailing reasons” to praise and pray.
This year in our churches and in our private lives perhaps we can move from complaining prayers to communications to God that begin and end with thanksgiving. Certainly there is suffering and violence everywhere we look, and we are concerned about these situations enough to be intentionally involved in their alleviation. But we can also remember that there is goodness, commitment, caring, and the power of forgiveness all around us too.
Where do you see positive conditions in your church family? Can you give thanks for the work of our Presbyterian mission partners around the world, for our courageous stands for peace and justice, for our continuing support for the needy and the poor? If God really does give us all unfailing reasons to praise and pray, it should not be difficult to find reasons to be thankful. Some of us truly know how bad evil and violence are; we are also the ones who understand how good it could be if we would turn to God’s healing and love more often.
* John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion. Edited by John T. McNeill. Translated by Ford Lewis Battles. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1960.
EARL S. JOHNSON JR. is the pastor of First church, Johnstown, N.Y.
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