Don’t Stop Thanking God
Saturday, September 23
Ever since I heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God’s people everywhere, I have not stopped thanking God for you. (Ephesians 1:15-16)
One of the things humans find hard to do is to be grateful, especially for things that come at no cost to us. We take the common things for granted. And we begin to feel entitled. Let’s take Paul’s word: “I have not stopped thanking God.” It seems it was Paul’s habit to be thankful. And as we have seen all over the Scripture, thanksgiving is among the spiritual disciplines of Christians.
Most of us like to feel our lives have nothing to thank God for. I am currently writing this devotional with a certain feeling that isn’t gratitude. I am not surprised that the Holy Spirit led me to think about gratitude and used Paul as the person I should look at in this.
Our hearts are more prone to ingratitude than gratitude. And the reason is because we are more aware of our problems than our blessings. Think about Paul. I am aware that his thanksgiving to God was for the Ephesians. But let us see Paul for his life of gratitude. I think many of us can compare our lives to that of Paul’s concerning suffering. Paul suffered and was eventually executed. But Paul was a man of thanksgiving.
Those who have cultivated the habit or attitude of gratitude don’t mean that their lives are all together or that they have a perfect life. What it means is that they chose to count their blessings and thank God for the things that feel so common. What can you be grateful to God for today? If you sit down and count them, you’ll wonder why you haven’t been grateful.
Doing the Word: Count your blessings and name them one by one.
Prayer: Dear Father, thank You for all You do in my life and my family, Amen.