Thoughts of Thanksgiving: A Five-Day Devotional by Skip HeitzigSample

Gratitude: The Mark of a Believer

It's human nature to be ungrateful. Scripture reminds us that part of the root of our rebellion against God is our failure to render Him thanks: "Although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened" (Romans 1:21, emphasis mine).

If that's the root of rebellion, then the attitude that should mark God's people is the opposite of that: thanking and praising the Lord for all He has done for us. This is precisely what David did in Psalm 103, and what God's people have done for centuries.

For instance, the Jews often open their prayers of thanksgiving by saying, "Barukh atah Adonai eloheinu," or "Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God." The Old Testament law commanded the children of Israel to bring offerings of thanks to the temple. And the book of Psalms is loaded with spontaneous eruptions of praise and thanksgiving—all abundant blessings to God. In Qumran by the Dead Sea, the Essene community compiled all the psalms that thanked God into a collection known as the Thanksgiving Psalms, and on feast days, they would render thanks to the Lord.

Giving thanks wasn't important for the Jew or the Essene alone but for the New Testament Christian as well. The apostle Paul began most of his letters by thanking God for his fellow believers (see Romans 1:8; 1 Corinthians 1:4; Philippians 1:3). He also exhorted Christians to "be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God" (Philippians 4:6, emphasis mine). We aren't to rush into God's presence and say, "Here are my problems, God. Take care of them." Gratitude should mark our prayer life.

Gratitude should mark our lifestyle, too. "Whatever you do in word or deed," Paul wrote, "do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him" (Colossians 3:17, emphasis mine). Thanksgiving ought to mark you as a child of God, and an attitude of gratitude should spring forth from your life. Does it?