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| Be
Thankful |
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| Jason
Moore |
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Americans, above all
citizenries, have cause to be grateful. Christians, regardless
of citizenship, have above all peoples reason to give thanks.
Being temporary inhabitants of a free country, permanent
citizens of a better country, and members of a peaceful
congregation making its pilgrimage toward that better land, we
especially have every reason to be thankful and no reason to
be otherwise. Gratitude alone befits the disciple. Ingratitude
ought to be an unwelcome guest in his house. In fact, no guest
at all, but a stranger and an enemy to his contentment.
Ingratitude is the custom of the backslider. Gratitude is
the natural response to God’s grace and goodness, so that
ingratitude is the obvious and initial sign of a man’s
falling from grace. It’s the posture of mind that causes him
to lose his footing and fall away from God. When men leave God
they start by not honoring him as God and by not giving thanks
(Rom. 1:21).
Worship is one of the obvious times for giving thanks and so
one of the first habits to be neglected by the backslider.
Busyness or embarrassment also prevents a man from giving
thanks over his food. Looking down at his schedule or around
at his peers, he neglects to look up and thank God for His
gifts.
Furthermore, the ungrateful do not read their bibles because
reading the bible makes a man think of God. Thinking of God
makes men thankful. “Think” and “thank” are kindred
terms. We “give thanks” when the sight or memory of
someone is a “thought” we welcome. “Giving thanks”
then begins with “giving thinks.” A man who doesn’t
think much will not thank much. Such is the manner of those
who leave God. Rarely or never pausing to worship, to pray or
to read their bible they do not think of God enough to give
thanks to Him at all.
On the other hand, giving thanks is the habit of the new man.
It seasons the speech of the disciple. Filthiness, silly talk,
and coarse jesting adorn the world’s conversation, but they
do not “fit” the Christian (Eph. 5:4). Having “put on
the new man,” the trademark of his conversation is the
custom of being thankful. “Where never is heard a
discouraging word” ought to be the slogan that describes the
Christian’s speech. Why would the Christian, confident in
God’s promises and enthused with the Christian hope, despair
in his speech and be heard to complain over his lot in life?
His speech is salted with gratitude not soured with
bitterness.
That’s only logical. If ingratitude is the sign of slipping,
then thankfulness is the sign of standing fast. For reasons
stated earlier, the thankful man is necessarily thoughtful of
God. His habit of worship, of prayer, of study fills his mind
with thinking of God and so his tongue with thanks toward God.
His thoughtfulness is expressed in his thankfulness, inasmuch
as “the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart”
(Matt. 12:34).
He orders his life to think of God by giving time for daily
meditation on God’s goodness and grace. His counting of his
blessings and thus his gratitude is not a once-a-year, but an
often-each-day occurrence. “In everything [he] give thanks,
for this is God’s will for [him] in Christ Jesus” (1 Thess.
5:18).
Paul warned Timothy of “difficult times” when men, laden
with other transgressions, would add ingratitude to the list
(2 Tim. 3:2). Ingratitude is the characteristic of a people
who know not God, or who knowing Him permit other cares to
cloud their hearts from thinking of Him and thus being
thankful. It is the “pure in heart” who “shall see
God” both here and in eternity. They are blessed. And they
are grateful to be so blessed. Let us be of that sort.
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Copyright (C)
2008
Southside Church of Christ
All rights reserved.
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