It's that time of year...Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays are upon us. To that end, we will take a break from our usual Wednesday at the Well Bible studies to make room, first for a Thanksgiving devotion and then for the balance of the time between now and Christmas to devote ourselves to focusing on Christmas and the birth of Jesus. Let's start this special time of year by giving thanks and expressing our gratitude to God...
Bible Reading: Psalm 84:11
Being thankful or expressing gratitude is something that most of us have been taught from an early age. We were taught to say, “Thank you,” whenever someone did
something for us or gave us a gift. We made annual pilgrimages to relatives’ houses to celebrate annual Thanksgiving dinners. We make and keep “Gratitude Journals.” But, have you ever thought about what gratitude really is? Gratitude is knowing good things, big and small, exist and being thankful to the One God who made them and gave them to us. Gratitude is active. It is expressing, through what we say and do that we appreciate the things that God gave us to enjoy and to enrich our lives.
Psalm 84:11 reminds us of God’s care and provision for those who love and obey Him. This verse says, “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.” God loves us so much! He does more for us than we deserve. Without God, we would have nothing. We wouldn’t be able to thank other people for doing kind things for us or giving us gifts if God hadn’t place those people in our lives. Therefore, when we express our gratitude, it is God, first and foremost, Who should receive our thanks and physical expressions of gratitude.
We should then allow our gratitude to God to spill over as we turn to the people God placed around us and express our thanks and gratitude to them.
Let’s never take God, nor His gifts, for granted. consistently and regularly acknowledge the good things in our lives, big and small, and express our gratitude to God for them.
“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” Psalm 107:1
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for all of the good things You have given to me, including the people in my life. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Commentaires