Cultivating Gratefulness

Thomas Watson the Puritan writer of “The Godly Man’s Picture” wrote “A godly man is a thankful man. Praise and Thanksgiving is the work of heaven, and he begins that he will always be doing in heaven.”  You may recall throughout scripture the command to give God thanks.  The apostle Paul summed this up well when in his letter to the Thessalonian church to “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thess. 5:18). As a church one of our values is that we are “Shaped by Scripture.” Scripture declares that we should give thanks, therefore we want to be thankful in all circumstances.

But what does “in ALL circumstances” mean? 

It means we are to give God thanks in the good, the bad, and the ugly.  When we are at the tops of the mountains or in the lows of the valleys.  In the hard times and easy times.  In death and in life. 

Why?  Let me give you two reasons:

1.       To be thankful to God is a sign of a sanctified heart (sanctified being Holy or set apart). Giving thanks is God’s will for those who belong to Christ – It humbles our hearts to be in the sovereign will of God knowing He is there to walk us through this live.

2.       On the flip side, a characteristic of the ungodly is ungratefulness.  They are never content or satisfied and always looking inward and not upward.

Application:

When we pray & praise, we are putting the focus on where we should be – God & His goodness.  How we approach each day will reflect are we thankful or wanting?  Did you wake up this morning thanking the Lord for another day, for clean running water, a hot shower, toothpaste, and coffee (maybe not together)?  Or did you grumble about all the things in front of you, including having to come and do set up, annoying drive into church, kids were pure chaos—fill in the blanks.  I’m not saying we don’t have issues – but we can in thankfulness and in boldness pray about those things and praise the Lord who is our Rock, our refuge, and Savior & Lord. 

So today, what are we thankful for?  Let’s put this to practice as we pray this morning.

Further Study: 2 Timothy 3:2-4; Romans 1:21; Psalm 5:3; James 1:17; 1 Corinthians 4:7