My crankiness and ingratitude surface when I have lost focus on the awe of who God is. He is firmly in control of the universe and in all humility, sent His Son to suffer and die for each of us. My response should never be ingratitude or a sense of being victimized. The awe of His love drives us to a childlike faith, trusting in His goodness, purpose and intimate love for each of us.
It has been said that in the New Testament doctrine is grace; and ethics is gratitude; and something is wrong with any form of Christianity in which, experimentally and practically, this saying is not being verified. Those who suppose that the doctrine of God's grace tends to encourage moral laxity are simply showing that, in the most literal sense, they do not know what they are talking about. For love awakens love in return; and love, once awakened, desires to give pleasure.
J.I. Packer, Knowing God
We can eat bitterness for breakfast and go to bed at night with anger, but not without enduring the corrosive effect of both on the soul. Let's enter the day with thanks, walk through it with love, and end it with forgiveness. David Cassidy
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