“Cultivate a thankful spirit.
It has ever been a mark of God’s most distinguished saints in every age (David, in the Old Testament, and St. Paul, in the New), are remarkable for their thankfulness.
We seldom read much of their writings without finding them blessing and praising God.
Let us rise from our beds every morning with a deep conviction that we are debtors, and that every day we have more mercies than we deserve.
Let us look around us every week, as we travel through the world, and see whether we have not much to thank God for.
If our hearts are in the right place, we shall never find any difficulty in building an Ebenezer.
Well would it be if our prayers and supplications were more mingled with thanksgiving. (1 Sam. 7:12. Phil. 4:6.)”
–J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Luke, Vol. 1 (New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, 1879), 36-37. Ryle is commenting on Luke 1:46-56.
