Tis the season to give thanks but are you a grateful person? Do you live “on ready” to express your gratitude? What makes a person come across as “ungrateful” and what does that indicate?
Gratitude for a follower of Jesus Christ is not an option when you consider what all has been done for your salvation, what all is happening on your behalf every moment of every day, and what God has in store for you in His glorious plans for the future.
No wonder the call to come before God is to “come before Him with thanksgiving.”
Psalm 100:1–5 (ESV) — 1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! 2 Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! 3 Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! 5 For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
Let’s face it, too many times our focus goes to what is wrong in life and what is missing from the plans that we have for how life should be and as a result we miss out in recognizing how gracious God is to us in giving us life, breath, and our daily needs, which says nothing about our salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 8:9 (ESV) — 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.
Romans 8:15–18 (ESV) — 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
1 Corinthians 2:9 (ESV) — 9 But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—
Romans 8:32 (ESV) — 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
God has taken care of our greatest need in life in providing us salvation in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. As He calls us to Himself by the work of the Holy Spirit, He also gives us assurance of a glorious future that is ours but He also assures us that He’ll take care of us along the way providing for our every need in life.
1 Peter 1:3–5 (ESV) — 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Just like the children of Israel that God by the leadership of Moses led out of Egypt, providing for them and protecting them along the way, they murmured and complained to their detriment. But even in those times of chastisement God was merciful as He is with us.
Numbers 11:1–2 (ESV) — 1 And the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes, and when the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp. 2 Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down.
Maybe as we think about the need to stir up thanksgiving and find it hard to look beyond any disappointments that are causing us to murmur and complain, we should consider the words of Jeremiah as he lamented over the destruction and devastation left behind as his people were carried into captivity into Babylon. Notice in his lament, his openness in his complaint, but his refocus is on the Lord which enables him to express his hope with gratitude.
Lamentations 3:15–23 (ESV) — 15 He has filled me with bitterness; he has sated me with wormwood. 16 He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes; 17 my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; 18 so I say, “My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the Lord.” 19 Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! 20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. 21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: 22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Tis the season to be thankful, actually every day, really every moment is another reason to give thanks to God.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 (ESV) — 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Godspeed,
Bob Brubaker
