God Loves Thanks
"All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God." (2 Corinthians 4:15)One last big idea about thanksgiving before thanksgiving weekend is over. From God's point of view, thanksgiving isn't just a good thing for us to do as we grow up in Jesus. It's not just one more rule for Christians to follow or another way to measure our spiritual maturity.
For God, our giving thanks to Him is a goal, a destination, part of the reason He engineers the circumstances of our lives in the way He does. He cares so much about hearing "thank you" from His people that He arranges our daily lives to provoke it.
In this passage, Paul has described the terrible circumstances of his life and the great goodness of God and how God has worked through all of that to bring His grace to more people — so that thanksgiving will "overflow to the glory of God." Put another way, when you tell God "thank you," you are accomplishing His will for your life and His universe.
Think: Does knowing how deeply God cares about hearing "thank you" from His people motivate you to say "thank you" more often? Why or why not?
Pray: Tell God thanks for giving you His grace through Jesus. Ask Him to help you to do His will by saying thanks to Him more and more.
Do: Add 10 final items to your long list of thanks from the last week or so. Read through the list and hold it on to it to remind yourself how good God has been to you when you're having trouble feeling that.
<< Potty Mouth Replacement | Two Clocks >>
Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.
