“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
“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
-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
“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
"The Lord knows how apt even the best of men are to forget the spring of their mercies."
-John Owen, The Works of John Owen, vol. 8, p. 431
What is it that sets us apart from other sentient beings? Apart from the obvious, some have said that only man has the capability to think God’s thoughts after Him. I’m also of the opinion 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 one of pervasive and effusive gratitude. We simply cannot help it. In the great work of the gospel thankfulness is a work of the Spirit of God in the heart of the Christian. In fact, an unthankful Christian is a contradiction in terms. Our thankfulness is to be shared with others and is to be infectious, as Christ’s word dwells within us. 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, rooted and established in the faith, is to provoke us to great thanksgiving. In a world where thankfulness is often a rarity, for the Christian, thankfulness becomes us.
-DJM
