“Praise the LORD! Oh give thanks to the
LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!”
-Psalm 106:1
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you
richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
- Colossians 3:16
“After this I looked, and behold, a great
multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and
peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed
in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud
voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the
Lamb!" And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the
elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the
throne and worshiped God, saying, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and
thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever!
Amen."
- Revelation 7:9-12
“There is no sacrifice in which God takes greater delight than
the expression of our gratitude.”
- John Calvin, commenting
on Psalm 135:1, Calvin’s Wisdom, p. 135
“Praising God is one of the highest and
purest acts of religion. In prayer we act like men; in praise we act like
angels.”
-Thomas Watson, A Puritan Golden Treasury
What is it that sets
us apart from other created beings? Apart from the obvious, some have said that
only man has the capability to think God’s thoughts after Him. It also follows that
intentional thankfulness separates us from brute beasts. We are those who
declare gratitude to God for His manifold kindness. We contemplate God’s
mercies and then verbalize thankfulness. The character of the Christian is intended
to be one of pervasive and effusive gratitude. When we consider what God has
done we simply cannot help it. In the great work of the gospel thankfulness is
an important and necessary work of the Spirit of God in the heart of the
Christian. In fact, an unthankful Christian is a contradiction in terms. The
Christian’s thankfulness is to be declared both to God and others, and the
Christian’s thankfulness is to be genuine, demonstrative, and infectious.
Paul’s exhortation to the Colossians is this, “Therefore, as you received Christ
Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in
the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” (Colossians
2:6-7) Receiving Christ and walking in Him as we're rooted and established in the
faith, is to provoke us to great thanksgiving. In a world where thankfulness is
often a rarity, and murmur and complaint often carry the day, the Christian
recognizes that thanksgiving is not simply a holiday in November, but abounding
thanksgiving is a way of life. Everything
we have is a direct result of the kind beneficence of our Creator. In
everything give thanks, because as those who have received Christ Jesus the
Lord, thanksgiving becomes us.
-DJM
