One of the simple joys of my life is to walk through the church building on Sunday morning and greet people. The highlight of that journey is walking through our nursery and children’s area. A child’s smile is great medicine for the heart! One Sunday I complimented a small girls beautiful dress, to which the mother instructed her, “Say thank you.” The precious moment reminded me that giving thanks is a learned behavior.
Paul instructed the church, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (I Thessalonians 5:16-18, NIV). As with so many other habits or lifestyles, living with joy, prayer, and thanksgiving is commanded in the Bible. This is not an option or suggestion – it is a command. The grumpy Christian cannot dismiss this command with the statement, “This is just who I am.” No, you are commanded in the Bible to live with joy and thanks. The Holy Spirit who lives inside you enables you to live joyful. A life of thanks is a choice we make every day.
God instructs us to give thanks because He knows the benefits it brings us in life. Consider...
Giving thanks changes your focus. The thankful person is constantly seeing the good in circumstances and people rather than the bad. The attitude of gratitude is fueled by counting blessings rather than burdens. The life of joy is founded on the premise that God is good all the time and totally in control of this world. The thankful person can see the fingerprints of God on this world despite the brokenness of sin. When God and His blessings are the focus, the heart is filled with thanks. David wrote, “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise” (Psalms 100:4, NIV).
Giving thanks will keep you content. The thankful heart dwells on what he or she has rather than on what is missing. Thanksgiving is rooted in the satisfied life that believes it has all it needs. My father told me one time that he enjoyed walking through Wal-Mart simply to see everything he did not need. He would walk down the aisles and say, “I don’t need that. I don’t need that. I don’t need that.” Discontentment leads to resentment, but a contented heart flows with thanksgiving. The Bible declares, “But godliness with contentment is great gain” (I Timothy 6:6, NIV).
Giving thanks encourages others. The apostle Paul found himself on a ship in a storm where it appeared they would all die. The text says they had given up hope (Acts 27:20), but then Paul received an encouraging message from God that everyone would be saved. The text says that he encouraged them to eat with the words, “…he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all” (Acts 27:35). The next verse says, “Then they were all encouraged…” (Acts 27:36). A thankful life not only honors God, but it will also contagiously change the attitude of people it touches.