How many of us would ever walk away and not thank someone who has done the slightest thing for us? We are always thankful for anyone who has done a kind deed for us or who has given us even a small gift. We would not dare walk away without saying thank you to show our gratitude and appreciation. I think that is one of the first things children learn as toddlers. They learn to say thank you even though at first the thank you may sound a little like Ta Ta. But yet they say it and it seems they learn very early when to say it appropriately. They know and are taught that as a sign of gratitude, although they have no concept of gratitude, if someone does something, gives something or says something nice in turn you say thank you. It is a given. Very seldom will you find someone who does not show appreciation for a kind act, deed or words. Many times you have done things for your child or someone has done things for your child and you immediately told them to say thank you. You did not hesitate one bit to correct that child and to inform them that if someone does something for you or says something nice to you the proper response is to say thank you. It is instilled in us at a very young age.

Let it be instilled in our heart that we should also thank God for what He has done for us. It should be an immediate response and a natural reaction to His goodness. Most of us know the great things He has done and yet it seems we are so slothful in telling Him thank you and that we appreciate all He has done. He has done more for us than anyone could possibly do for us. He has done and is still doing things that we certainly do not deserve or that we can ever earn. He gave us His only begotten son even when we did not even have any knowledge of Him. His kindness was toward us and His thoughts were with us and we were not even born yet. His Son sacrificed and died on the cross, spotless, so that we can have ever lasting life. Yet we go day after day without saying thank you. Some of us might think, well I said it yesterday or last month and God knows how much I appreciate it and Jesus knows so what’s the point. The point is, that we should thank God everyday for his love and kindness and tender mercies. Because His love just didn’t stop at the cross. His love endureth toward us forever and we should appreciate His love by telling Him thank you every day. After all, every day that we awake is a gift. His Son is a gift and every day we receive the gift of His Son’s sacrifice and Him interceding with the Father on our behalf. God has given us an amazingly huge, wonderful and perfect gift that could never be matched. I don’t know anyone who would or has given someone a gift every day. But, God gives to us daily. Our hearts should overflow with gratitude everyday because of the gift from God and what Jesus did for us. Aside from that gift from God, Jesus in turned left us a gift, the Comforter. We should thank Jesus for the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, that lives inside us so that we can endure the hardships we may have to endure. The Holy Spirit, is a vital instrument in our Christian walk. If it was not for the gift that Jesus left us with we would not even know the goodness of God. We are sinners by nature and that sinful nature knows nothing about gratitude, kindness, appreciation or love. Only by the Holy Spirit are we able to grasp the goodness of God and to serve Him. The bible tells us to worship in Spirit and in Truth (John 4:23). We should choose to thank God on the basis of truth and in the spirit. The only true worship is in the spirit. Our nature knows nothing about truth. Truth without the Holy Spirit is selfish, dishonest and leads to a sinful life. Our gratefulness shows were we are in our spiritual walk. The presence or the absence of gratitude indicates our maturity level. Maturity shows were we are in our personal relationship with God. If we are spiritually mature then we will always be grateful to God for all He has done regardless of how we feel. Gratitude has nothing to do with feelings. Little has to do with feelings when we serve God. We are grateful because of what God has done and what the bible tells us He will do. If we wait to feel grateful before we express our gratitude then we will probably be waiting a long time and our expression of gratitude will be few and far between. Therefore, gratitude must be developed and cultivated in our lives. We have much to be thankful for so thank Him every day to show Him your gratitude! Rejoice and show gratitude to God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Our worship should be one of gratitude and not just of expectation.

Blessings,
Rhonda

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 at 4:40 pm and is filed under EC Chatter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.