Real Hope: GratitudeSample

Living With A Thankful Heart

This verse in Colossians reminds us that our ability to be thankful is not based on our circumstances, but rather on the unchanging love of God for us. Gratitude is shown in the way we live from that heart of thankfulness for God’s love.

There is a poem written by a German pastor Martin Rinkart that became a well-known hymn. It reminds me that heartfelt thankfulness can lead to actions of gratitude even when our circumstances are dire.

‘Now thank we all our God; With hearts and hands and voices…’

Rinkart wrote these words during his time of service in the walled town of Eilenburg. It was during the Thirty Years’ War and the plague was killing young and old alike. Rinkart was performing more than 50 funerals a day, which ended up including his own wife. Yet, he wrote these words to encourage himself and his children to continue to live with thankfulness to a God who is with us always.

This type of gratitude fills our songs, our spoken words and our actions with the indwelling love of God through Jesus on the best days and the worst days of our lives.

Written by KATH HENRY