Throughout this series on thankfulness, we’ve talked a lot about giving thanks to God no matter the circumstance—good or bad.
I believe a lot of this comes through creating habits and routines in our daily lives. For example, every night I write down ten things I was thankful for that day in my gratitude journal. This requires me to be finding moments to be thankful for amidst that day’s activities.
However, sometimes when we have those habits and routines, our hearts aren’t in it, and we’re just doing these things out of a sense of obligation.
This week I want to talk about genuineness in our gratitude. How can we be thankful in our hearts?
The Bible passage I’d like to share is Colossians 3:15-17: “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
We’ve been turning to the Apostle Paul quite a bit during this series, because Paul has a lot to say about thankfulness in his letters to various churches. To Paul, thankfulness was a crucial value. When we serve a God who has done immeasurably more than we could ever ask or imagine, as Paul writes in Ephesians, we need to show Him our gratitude.
These words in Colossians show us that the key to this powerful form of gratitude we are called to isn’t found by our own strength. Unfortunately, we can’t just will ourselves to be more thankful. Much like we can’t will our own sins away.
Thankfulness is a choice, yes. But we can choose to be thankful and still lose that genuineness when we approach God with our prayers.
Genuine gratitude, the kind that sings to God from our hearts, comes when the peace of God rules in our hearts first.
We’ve got to get our hearts right, and then our thankfulness can be more authentic.
When the peace of Christ rules in our hearts, when the message of Christ dwells among us richly, when we’re deep in Christ-like community, when we do all we do in the name of Jesus… we can sing to God with genuine gratitude in our hearts.
Now, this sounds just about impossible. We’re still broken people. And who has the integrity to fill all of these qualifications all the time? Certainly not me.
So there’s only one place to start here. Let’s start with the One at the center of it all. Let’s start with Christ.
Ask God to give you that genuine gratitude. Ask Him to help you be more authentic in your faith. Ask Him to give you the community you crave. Bring your requests before the Lord. When we have an open relationship with our Savior and Creator, we might find that authentic thankfulness in our hearts.
Dear God, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you. Please help me to say that more. Help me to say it with truth and authenticity. Help me to mean every word. Flood my heart with your peace. I want to feel your presence here. Thank you, God. Amen.
This is hard, friend. I’m right there with you. But never forget, you are onederfully created by God, and He wants this close relationship with you. With all of His children. And that’s a beautiful thing.
Love,
Becca
