Giving Thanks

Published 1:48 pm Thursday, May 18, 2023

All people of the world have reasons to give thanks to God; especially Christians living in the United States. We all have much to be thankful for. Often, people fail to realize the value of the blessings we do have. In fact, we have so much that sometimes we can’t see how much God has blessed us. But Christians should never take for granted the blessings that God has given us. Ultimately God has given Christians eternal life in Heaven. But there is so much more that we should consider.

The Palmist in Psalms 103:1-4, helps us to keep things in perspective concerning the blessings of God. David said, “Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;

From verse 1 we see the need to give thanks to God for Himself. This is so because God is the source of all joy in the world (Psalms 100:1-6, James 1:17). All Christians should “Bless the Lord”; that is we should express solemn words of appreciation, gratitude, and respect. When one thinks about the marvelous virtues of God, we should respond to them with praise. But praise requires preparation.  Since God is worthy of our service we should study (prepare) to know how to praise God properly.

We should give thanks for the many benefits He has saw fit to bestow upon us as His people. We read in Psalms 103:2 “Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits;” It is all too often the case that we forget to thank Him for the amount of health we do have, the soundness of our mind, our sight, our hearing, and a host of other mercies.

Psalms 103:3, reminds us that we should give thanks for God’s forgiveness. Our iniquities, that is, our failure to conform or live in obedience to the standards of God in our thinking, our words and our actions is dangerous and shows an ungrateful attitude. Sins in our lives will eventually lead to spiritual death which is an eternal separation from God. This is not the desire of God, in fact we learn from Isaiah 59:1-2, “Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

We should express our Gratitude daily for forgiveness (Psalm 103:10-12). However, we should not forget that God’s forgiveness of our sins is predicated upon our repentance of sin, (Luke 24:47) “and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” A heart that is truly repentant will obey Gods commands including His plan of salvation which includes: hearing God and Him alone in matters of forgiveness and religion (Romans 10:17), believing in Jesus as the Son of God (John 8:24), repentance, that is turning from sinfulness to live a life of service to God (Acts 2:38), confession of Jesus as the Son of God (Romans 10:9-10), being baptized into the body of Christ and living a faithful life (Acts 2:38, Gal. 3:27, 1 Peter 3:21, Titus 2:12).

We should give thanks for God’s redemption, mercy, and compassion (Psalm 103:4). God redeems us that He purchased us with the blood of His dear Son (Ephesians 1:7, Hebrews 9:12). But we should realize that God shows mercy and compassion to those who don’t deserve it (Psalm 103:8-10). God tempers His anger; this is Paul’s message in (Romans 2:4). Truly we serve a gracious God that is worthy of our praise and thanksgiving.

Finally, we should give thanks to God who gives us satisfaction (Psalm 103:5). It is God who satisfies us with all good things in life (Psalm 31:19). However, we should never forget that the goodness of God in the physical realm will one day come to an end. As Solomon stated many times, we should enjoy life. But we should do so with eternity in mind.

God truly is good to us; therefore, it is only right that we give thanks for all He has done for us and continues to do for us. See (Psalm 92:1-2).

(Tony Hoss is minister at the Centerview Church of Christ, Elizabethton)