Saturday, August 14: Thankfulness

My summer tennis camps ended this week, and I am so thankful! I approach each summer with a bit of dread, with the heat and additional hours wearing me out. Two years ago, I remember praying for God to help me to endure those three months, and when there weren’t as many signups for lessons as usual, or as expected, I spent the summer complaining about not making enough money to pay the bills. Of course, there are other summers in which I am so busy that when the weekends arrive, I sleep through both the days and nights. Does it surprise you that in those times I complain to God that I am too tired? Certainly, God hears my prayers and says, “What do you want this time? It never is enough for you, is it?”

There is no greater difference between men than between grateful and ungrateful people. ~R.H. Blyth

Prayers should not be a shopping list of items we desire, that we visualize would make our lives so much easier. Instead, our prayers should be for the needs of others, and most importantly, praises to God for all He has chosen to give us in His infinite wisdom. Instead of complaining that a beautiful rose has thorns, we should be thanking Him for those thorns. Thankfulness is not an act, but an attitude. Part of the attitude adjustment that needs to occur is an assessment of our spiritual condition. That assessment acknowledges that without God, we are spiritually deceased! Our sins have created a wide separation between man and our God, who in His perfection cannot look upon sin. Yet the Father sent His only Son to bridge that gap.


What do we have to be thankful for? First of all, God chose us! So many Christians get this mixed up, by thinking that God chose us based on who we would become. No! That is unequivocally wrong! He chose us for His own reasons, and those reasons had everything to do with showing His mercy upon those who did not deserve it. If we become anything special, it is all because of God. If I have any abilities at all, they are gifts that He has given. A gift isn’t practiced, learned or perfected. It is opened and used! If you really desire to please God, use the gifts that He has given for His glory rather than for your own benefit!


13 But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, 14 to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.
2 Thessalonians 2:13-15


Once again, what should we be thankful for? Everything! There is not a part of my past that was not at least partially responsible for bringing me to this exact point. And lest any of us forget, if we are Christians, this exact point involves the greatest gifts…God living inside of us, the calling to serve Him and eternal life with Him! Is life too difficult for you at times? The greatest difficulty of your life might be facing you right this very moment. If you are not a Christian, there is a solution. That solution is to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. If you are a Christian, the solution is to reflect on your spiritual condition without Him. Regardless of where you are, praise Him, for He is in control. When Paul and Silas were in prison, chained, possibly tortured, but most certainly not in the location they would desire to be in, what did they do?

But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
Acts 16:25

Then God performed miracles! No matter what you are enduring, God is not blind to it. In fact, He put you right where you are for His reason. Many question that if we have free will, how is it that God has placed us in these positions? To simplify that answer just a bit, God is outside of time and knows each decision that every man ever will make. Additionally, when we make the wrong decision, one that leads us away from God, He allows us to walk that path. At the same time, He puts detour signs in our lives to bring us back to the path He has planned for us. If you are His, He never will let go of you!


Be thankful for everything, but most importantly, be thankful for having God in your life! Personally, it is still easy to think about what my life was like without Him, and I never want to have that feeling again!


Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.
2 Corinthians 2:14