Showing our Gratitude

God gives us his love, goodness, and mercy daily. He has given us victory over sin and death through his Son. Christ has given us the blessings of forgiveness, justification, a new life, and an eternal hope. Because of his bountiful blessings, we should be compelled to show our gratitude.  Do we? Could we, at times, be taking all that we receive for granted?

If Christ were to come into our homes in physical form, certainly we would express our thanks in tangible ways. We would make him comfortable, run errands for him, offer our best food, and give him our time and attention. However, we don’t have that opportunity, so we show our gratitude in different ways.

One way that we express our gratitude is to give thanks throughout the day in our prayers and thoughts. When we see life and its blessings as gifts, we are prepared to offer our thanks. Our thanksgiving is expressed when we, in faith, live in obedience to his Word. God hears and sees our gratitude through the lives we live. When we generously share our time and money with others in Christian love, we show our thanksgiving for our gifts. Our giving reflects Christ’s love to us. We extend our thanks to our heavenly Father when we give him praise and glory in weekly worship and privately throughout each day.

In response to God’s love and grace we, as stewards, give ourselves and our resources. We acknowledge God as the creator and owner of all as we serve him faithfully out of gratitude for all of his gifts to us. God enables us to give thanks even during bad times, because God promises to comfort and sustain us in all things.