A Thankful Heart . . . Do You Have One?

When Jonah was told to go to Nineveh, he said, “No Thanks!” and high-tailed it in the opposite direction. When Naaman was told to dip seven times in the dirty Jordan River, he said, “I’ll pass . . . we have clean rivers where I come from.” When God told the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane to “Watch and pray” they rolled over and went to sleep.

What about you? If God told you to so something, would you do it?
This is one of those questions easy to answer flippantly. “Do what God tells me to do? Of course! And, no, I don’t throw trash out my car window, or drown kittens, or shoplift!” Wow! Good answers!
But we should all stop and think about our answer because we have been told to do something this Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season. In fact, we’re asked to do something all the time, in every circumstance – the good and the bad. Are you doing what God told you to do?
1 Thess. 5:18 we are instructed, In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
. . . In everything? I can think of a lot of circumstances I don’t particularly like. Can you? Yet, we’re told to give thanks.
Giving thanks is natural around the Thanksgiving table. Of course we’re thankful! But what about the 364 days until next Thanksgiving? Are you a thankful person after the turkey’s all eaten? Are you truly thankful every day, in all circumstances, for the God who loves, the God who provides, the God who makes a way? When was the last time you stopped and in obedience opened your heart to God and gave thanks for all the blessings He has lavished on you? We’re told to give thanks regularly.
It’s literally God’s will that you and I give thanks in everything. What are the things in your life that are easy to take for granted but part of the ongoing great blessing of God on your life?

All parents love it when their children express their thanks for love, gifts, favors, help . . . for anything! And what is your reaction when a child is genuinely thankful? You want to give and do more, don’t you? You seek to bless that child further.

God is our Father who knows how to give good gifts, as it says in the book of Matthew. Are you missing out on your Father’s blessing because you’ve forgotten He has instructed you to give thanks?

Think for a moment – what do you have to give thanks for, right now? Your Father is waiting with a ready ear. What are you waiting for?