An attitude of gratitude!

"Give thanks, with a grateful heart", we sometimes sing - and it's a beautiful song of praise and worship.  However, it can be quite a challenge to grow up with a truly thankful heart. From an early age we are exposed to a culture of gripers and grumblers, complainers and critics. We complain about the weather, the traffic, food, work, neighbours, bills, the government, church, and life in general. Worst of all, we are often ungrateful toward God. It would be hard to count the number of complaints and criticisms that are daily spoken before Him and against Him. How can we, who have received so much, be thankful for so little?

One of the great indicators of true spirituality is not how many times we go to the worship service, how big our Bibles are, or for how long we pray. It is measured by the level of gratitude that is in our hearts. When we are ungrateful, the heart of God is saddened, the Holy Spirit is grieved, and the joy of the Lord is quenched within us.

Being thankful sweetens you; grumbling sours you.  Being thankful brings sunshine to your countenance; being ungrateful casts a shadow.  Being thankful brings a melody to your words; criticism makes you sound like a clanging cymbal.  Being thankful keeps your feet on the pathway of celebration; complaining takes you down the road of despair. 

Paul writes: "Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (I Thess 5:16-18; emphasis added); while the Psalmist encourages us to "Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise!  Give thanks to Him, bless His Name!" (Ps 100:4; emphasis added).  Indeed, if you have access to a Biblical Concordance, it would be a worthwhile exercise to look up a number of the references to "Thanks" and "Thanksgiving".  If you haven't, then you could do worse than to go to http://www.biblegateway.com/

When our hearts are filled with gratitude we may feel that our thanksgiving is inadequate - but we may be certain that it is always appropriate. It will gladden the heart of God to hear your heartfelt thanks being freely offered to Him today.