"...giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ." -Ephesians 5:20
We often take things in our every-day lives for granted. We think that they will be there forever, but have you ever thought about their importance? Have you ever considered, and thanked God for your daily things? Today I will be talking about these things, and why we should be thankful for them.
When was the last time you sat down and genuinely thanked God for your blessings? Was it today? Yesterday? A week ago? We often don't even think about all of our blessings, as they are so average in our lives that we don't even notice them. Things such as freedom, free education, oxygen, a home, internet, etc. When was the last time you sat down, and genuinely counted your blessings? I'm not saying that you need to get out a piece of paper and write down every single thing that you have been blessed with, but it is important that we take some time out of our daily lives to concentrate, and meditate on the things God has blessed us with, and be truly, genuinely thankful for those things.
Why do we need to be thankful for these things? God loves us enough to send His son to die for us (John 3:16) even though we are the ones who put Him on that cross. Even so, if we ask things that are in accordance with God's will, He will give them to us (1 John 5:14, James 1:5-6, Matthew 7:7-8 etc.) as long as we simply ask! But are we thankful for those things? Do we always ask, and never give? Do we always receive and never thank? Often times we forget about these things until we are reminded about how little other people have in comparison. So many people every day are starving, going without food or water. Thousands are going daily without a proper place to live, proper clothing, housing, etc. and I'm not saying this to guilt anyone, but we sit back in our nice brick houses and we complain that the air conditioning isn't working. Or we complain that someone cuts us off on the highway, when we fail to be thankful for the houses we live in, or the cars that we drive.
Every day, people are in need. Every day people are hurting, and it is our job as Christians to go and help them. Not only in the physical sense, but in the spiritual sense as well (Matthew 28:18-20). Are we thankful for our spiritual things? Say you have a friend whom you give countless hours to. You comfort them when they're in need, you help them make important decisions, and you support them in their every work. You make sure they always have everything that they need, but they never say "thank you". They always ask, and never even think to give anything back to you. Is that a true friendship? Is that a friend who you want in your life, who takes all without thankfulness? So let me ask you, are you God's friend?
Today I would like to encourage you all to think about those things that you are thankful for, and sit down and genuinely thank God for all of them. Maybe not necessarily list off every single thing, but at least show Him your gratitude for those things that He has given. Today I would like to encourage you to look at the things you have in a new light, and not think of the things you don't have, but the things that you have been blessed with.
