HAVE YOU SAID THANKS?
Inevitably, life is filled with giving and receiving. It is evident in how we arrive on earth empty-handed yet accumulate possessions during our lifetime. Life must be saturated with gratitude simply because everything we have was given to us – even the things we worked for. That then begs the question, have you said thank you?
My dad had a friend. This man bought his son the latest Honda car as a gift and handed him the keys on his birthday. Roland, excited and anticipating how happy his friends would be, just sped off without saying “Thank you” to his father. Weeks and months passed without a word from him. No “Thank you”, no “I like the gift, Dad”, not even an “I just called to see how you are doing”. It was only when the windscreen broke that Roland remembered that he never thanked his father for giving him the first car he ever owned in his entire life.
Roland clearly cherished his friends more than his own father. And just like Roland, many of us just go through life taking all the wonderful gifts we receive for granted, not appreciating the one who gave them to us but rather giving our time and attention to everybody, except of course the person who merits it first of all.
Thanksgiving is something;
It’s something we should never live without doing. In our recent blog post on devotion, we listed thanksgiving as the first prayer point. The first because of how important it is. We start off our devotion by giving God thanks; praying in the language of the Spirit, giving thanks to God and glorifying his name. God loves it when we enter his courts, praising and thanking him for everything. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 lets us know that God desires that we give him thanks in all things – good and bad. That’s his will! Thanksgiving is the way to enter his presence. It’s more like our “knock knock”, alongside the praise we give him. Psalm 100:2-4 expounds it.
The most amazing part about Thanksgiving
The most amazing part of thanksgiving is that God more than deserves it! He deserves our praise and our show of appreciation. Giving thanks makes God want to to do more for us. It opens doors. It brings us more favour. I don’t want to miss out on this, so I’m going to continue to give God thanks, and so should you. Remember that if you have been moving through life, never giving thanks, it’s not too late to begin doing so.
Take time to read these instances in the Bible, where people gave thanks to God and praised him, and discover for yourself all the benefits they reaped from their thanksgiving.
2 Chronicles 1:6-12 – Solomon’s sacrifice
Acts 16:22-40 – Paul and Silas
Mark 6:38-42 – Jesus giving thanks for the loaves and fishes.
Luke 17:11-19 – Jesus healing the 10 lepers.
I would like you to spend some time reading the above scriptures. Don’t forget to say “thank you” to your Maker, as you meditate on the wonderful things he has done and is about to do. Have a thanksgiving-filled day!
