“I am so thankful I don’t even know what to do,” I thought as I sat perched on my hotel room bed in the quiet of the early fall morning. Oh, such an exceedingly far cry from how I used to live. Miserable. Unthankful. Granted I have had seemingly relentless life’s challenges of one variety or another, but never is there an excuse to not be thankful to God Himself and for His countless blessings.
Know what came to mind just before I got out of my comfy position on the bed and laid aside my mug of yummy daily smoothie to get to the computer and begin writing this message?
This. We are called by God per the Bible to live a lifestyle of thanksgiving. But I am concerned we may restrict thanksgiving to saying a few quick prayers to God of thankfulness, of telling our friends how thankful we are, or of feeling thankful when the church pastor preaches on being thankful.
The reality? We are to BE THANKFUL in our HEARTS, out of our MOUTHS, and in our ACTIONS. Our thoughts, feelings, words, and actions should show forth our thanksgiving to the Lord.
May seem like a tall order, but when we set our hearts and eyes upon the Lord, upon His Word, and upon all the blessings in our lives, the lifestyle of thanksgiving to which we are called should come naturally as a result of His awesomeness and amazingness and goodness and should be visible to all – most of all to the Lord!
Father, forgive us our whining, moaning, complaining, griping, self-pity, our lack of thankfulness. Oh, God, forgive us for not thinking and talking about thanksgiving for most of the year until it gets to Thanksgiving time. Forgive us for all the ways in which we have lacked thankfulness in our hearts, words, and actions. Oh, God, teach us your ways! Help us day by day to remember to be thankful and to express our thanksgiving that we may live a lifestyle of FAITH, LOVE, OBEDIENCE TO YOU, and hand in hand with this, oh Lord, THANKSGIVING! Hallelujah, AMEN!
“And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.” Colossians 3:17
“By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.” Hebrews 13:15