New Reminders: Thankful
by Ardith Hoff
Feeling and expressing thankfulness involves an emotional response to something positive that has happened or relief that something bad or difficult has passed. Other words for "thankful" include grateful, appreciative, and indebted. "Grateful" implies a strong, deep sense of appreciation, while "appreciative" emphasizes happiness about something good. "Indebted" suggests a feeling of owing someone for a favor, service or kindness they have extended to us, or for an action someone has taken to prevent something bad from happening.
Many good things happen to each of us every day, and bad things come our way often. We are grateful when good things happen and when bad things can be averted, or we live through them without ourselves or those we love or our property being destroyed. We are even thankful when we, or our loved ones, have suffered harm and losses but have survived. Things can be replaced, but lives can only be mended, healed and preserved.
The Bible is full of advice about being thankful. The following are just a few examples of how important gratitude is in the word of God: 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says: “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Psalm 107:1 reminds us: “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!” Ephesians 5:20 emphasizes: “Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Colossians 3:15-17 cautions us: “And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 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. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” James 1:17 says: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”
These verses remind us that we should thank God, above all. For it is He who provides for us. It is He who lifts us up and sustains us and it is He to whom all glory should be given for all that He does, has done and will do, for our wellbeing. He is the one who has provided everything and everyone that has been instrumental in the things we are thankful for. Most of all, it was He who gave His only son Jesus as a living sacrifice that we should be saved. Praise be to God for His unfathomable and forgiving grace!