I was impressed this morning by the simplicity of the statement GIVE THANKS, It’s different to ‘being thankful, or even having a heart of gratitude. It’s an activity, a choice, and wonderfully it is something everyone can do.
We don’t need money, education, status, or any particular skill. It is in fact one of the first things many parents teach their children. It is so simple. How wonderful of the Lord to give us something so easy to do in order to connect with Him and bless Him. ‘Thanks’ are something each one of us can give Him just by making a choice.
How we do it also matters to God, because the next thought that came to me was the statement in 2 Corinthians 9 : 7 ‘Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver’. So God loves cheerful giving -no surprise there!
I imagine we have all been in the excruciating situation where a child has been forced to thank us for something they really didn’t want. It’s not great to be on the receiving end of thanks given grudgingly. Likewise God loves freely given thanks even when it’s a sacrifice.
A song that I heard in the 70’s still rings in my head. It captured for me the essence of those verses in Corinthians. It was sung by some very merry singing nuns!!! The two lines of the chorus went…..
God loves a cheerful giver. Give it all you’ve got,
He loves to hear you singing when you’re in an awkward spot.
I don’t think it would make the Christian top twenty today, but, in that it links giving thanks with giving generously and freely it probably should.
Generosity is at the heart of our God. There were twelve baskets of food left over, Luke 9 : 17. Six stone water pots filled with 20 gallons of wine each at the tail end of a wedding! John 2 : 6. There is forgiveness for ALL our sins, not to mention a universe that is just teaming with the extravagence of our creator who, it seems, couldn’t stop Himself creating. He gave us a world to live in with such a wealth of sights and sounds, colour and taste to enjoy.
Jesus said ‘Give and it will given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over’, Luke 6 : 38. Paul understood this aspect of His God when he wrote, after encouraging his readers to give cheerfully, that ‘God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all you need, you will abound in every good work’ 2 Corinthians 9 : 8
Our wonderfully generous God is just straining to respond to our joyfully given thanks, with a further outpouring of His love and grace. So let us ‘Give Thanks’ today, big time, for whatever we can, big or small. Let us give our thanks freely and generously to our exceedingly generous God, and don’t be surprised then at the blessings that may well be coming your way.
