Three Marks Of A Thankful Christian Series

Alba 11-3-13 (Revised 11-6-2022)

Three Marks of a Thankful Christian

A boy had only heard his grandfather pray at Thanksgiving, Easter, and other special occasions; when he typically would say a long prayer of thanks over the food.

One night, after a fun camp-out and fishing trip, grandfather (to the boy's surprise) asked a very brief blessing on the food. With a gleam in his eye, the boy grinned at his grandfather and said, "You don't pray so long when you're hungry, do you Grandpa?"

An old farmer once had an ungodly relative visit him. After the farmer had bowed his head and thanked God for the food they were about to eat, the relative rudely said, “What did you do that for? There’s no God. We live in an age of enlightenment.”

The old farmer smiled and said, “There is one on the farm who doesn’t thank God before he eats.” The relative sat up and said, “Who is this enlightened one?”

To which the farmer quietly replied, “My pig.”

I Thessalonians 5:18 says we are to "give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." This is God’s will for us, to give thanks in all circumstances. And He knows, if we will do it, our lives will be better.

How thankful are you? How can you tell? Today we will look at three marks of a Thankful Christian.

1) A Thankful Christian is a Growing Christian.

The apostle Paul writes to the Christians in 2 Thessalonians 1:3, “We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other.”

In Colossians 1:10-12 we are told as Christians we should “..walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.”

“Increasing in the knowledge of God” and “giving thanks to the Father”. The NIV translates those verses saying we should be “growing in the knowledge of God”, and “giving joyful thanks to the Father.”

Growing in the knowledge of God and giving thanks. Is that what we do, or are we more like babies? Think about babies. How do they behave? The truth is that a baby is ungrateful.

You can take a little baby when it has colic and walk the floor with it for hours. And when you put that baby down - it won’t say, "Thank You." More than likely, it will just yell a little louder.

A baby is constantly in need of care and feeding! Most newborns require a small amount nourishment every few hours.

They are not able to handle large volumes of food or milk at first because their stomachs are still growing and developing.

You cannot turn your back for long on small children. They are in need of constant monitoring, and constant care for their own protection.

Now most babies are cute, huggable and lovable, but anyone who still acts like a baby after having grown a few years is looked upon much differently. The older we get while still acting like a baby, the more it becomes offensive.

A new born baby sucking on a bottle is a natural thing. But a grown man who is still sucking on a baby bottle certainly is not. In fact, he would look downright foolish.

To a certain extent we all have to go through growth periods spiritually, just as we must do so physically. No one ever becomes a man or woman by skipping the adolescent years between childhood and manhood.

Sometimes we may wish we could skip those troublesome teenage years with their mood swings, raging hormones and attitude problems, but it simply can’t be done.

Going through the rough times of the formative and learning years are an essential part of life and they shape our character for many years to come.

Even so, there are far too many who choose to remain in the Primary Department instead of moving on to bigger, better and more mature things. Sad to say, many never come out of that Primary Department.

One man said that if his small grandaughter wants a cracker that’s on the counter, she is unable to say the words, “Give me that cracker.”

So instead she will stand there and point and cry as you try to guess everything that is on the counter until you hit on the right thing. Then she is unable to say thank you.

Children have to be taught to be thankful. It just doesn’t come naturally. Sometimes you almost have to force a child to say thank you.