THANKSGIVING

THANKSGIVING is the act of giving thanks; grateful acknowledgment of benefits or favors, especially to God.  

1 Chronicles. 16:34; Said that it is acknowledging what is right about God in praise and thanksgiving. While Leviticus 26:40; said that it means a right acknowledgment of self before God in confessing sin.

The Bible ties a great deal of meaning to the concept of “Thanks” — but what if most of that meaning is lost on us today?  To us, Thanksgiving is an expression of gratitude. As kids, we’re taught that “please,” and “thank you” are magic words — spells that compel adults to give us stuff.    

Seriously, sometimes people say “thanks” a lot and you will be surprised that they do not mean it every time, they are just pretending to be grateful. Sometimes they just say it before they have even had time to process what they are supposed to be thankful for. It is the polite thing to do, like saying “bless you” after a sneeze or “God bless you,” for extra spirituality points. 

However, the thanksgiving l am talking about here today is that which we owe God who created us out of nothing. How do we give thanks to God? It should not be just a polite “thanks” for when something happens to us, it should be an outpouring of praise to God for who He is and what He does in our lives. 

The Psalmist repeatedly calls us to give thanks to the Lord for two things: His lovingkindness, and for His miracles among men (Ps 107:1, 8, 15, 21).

That we are here today planning to celebrate 2020 Christmas, it is by His grace. Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth and so, Psalm 100 says. 

Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing.

Know that the LORD Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we who made us.

We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

The psalmist says, we should enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. That we should give thanks to Him and bless His name.

For the LORD is good and His loving kindness is everlasting and His faithfulness to all generations. 

Thankfulness is an important subject to the apostle Paul and in the Word of God as a whole.

So, taking a cue from the psalmist, how and when should we thank God? For me, it should be every minute of our lives. Think of the fact that you went to bed at night and you woke up the next morning is a miracle on its own and God deserves to be thanked for that Why because, many did the same but never saw the next morning.

One of my children use to say to me any time l ask him how he is doing, His answer is always ”mum that l am alive to see today is God’s doing and so what l am going to do or eat today, in fact everything about me today, is His problem and not mine”.   Whenever he says that, l usually laugh but come to think of it, he is right. For God to keep you alive each day really, He must have planned out your day for you, all you need to do is to key into that plan with prayer and thanksgiving.

Let us adopt that attitude of frequently acknowledging God’s presence in our lives, in everything we do and everything we have with praises, let us thank God as individuals and as a family. As a family, block a date every year on the calendar to have a family thanksgiving. If not for anything because He is an awesome God who has kept us together as a family and WHO has our interest at heart and all HE expects from us is, simply acknowledge His presence in our lives, be humble, be sincere, be thankful and above all, Love HIM.

 So, as we count down to the end of 2020, let us thank God in whatever way we deem fit for all His goodness, protection, favor and miracles that we have enjoyed in the year.