Better Together

I want to continue today on the theme of being grateful and being thankful…

In the O.T. gratitude was the only condition in which life could be enjoyed…

The Hebrew people thanked God for creation, gave thanks when they received good news…even thanked Him when they received bad news…

Job had just received the news that his family had all been lost…His response?

Job 1:21 (NASB95)

21He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Thanks was given for deliverance from enemies, from death, for forgiveness of sin…answers to prayer…compassion for the afflicted & oppressed…..Thanks was given for God executing justice, and for continuing guidance….

In the Hebrew/Jewish culture, gratitude pervaded most ceremonies and customs! Thank-offerings, Shouts of Joy…

We see David giving instruction as the Ark of the Presence had been returned to the City of David…

1 Chronicles 16:4-7 (NASB95)?4 He appointed some of the Levites as ministers before the ark of the Lord, even to celebrate and to thank and praise the Lord God of Israel:?5 Asaph the chief, and second to him Zechariah, then Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom and Jeiel, with musical instruments, harps, lyres; also Asaph played loud-sounding cymbals,?6 and Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests blew trumpets continually before the ark of the covenant of God.?7 Then on that day David first assigned Asaph and his relatives to give thanks to the Lord.

Ministers were appointed to celebrate & praise God

Stringed instruments (loud sounding cymbals)

Speaks of continuous music

Asaph & relatives ASSIGNED to give thanks…that important

A Thankful heart lives large…

A Thankful heart gives large…

Conversely, a Thankless heart is a pathway to destruction…

Romans 1:20–21 (NASB95)

20For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

21For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

This passage says that;

God’s attributes were clearly seen (viewing a custom home and concluding it evolved?)

Clearly understood

There is no excuse

By not honoring or giving thanks… led to a futility and darkness!

Being a thankless or ungrateful person in a consistent manner just opens up dark and difficult things…not just about having a grumpy day…

Proverbs 18:6 (NASB95)

6A fool’s lips bring strife, And his mouth calls for blows.

I would say that being a thankless or ungrateful person is much worse…

There are ways that we live that open up blessing and resources of heaven on our behalf,

and ways that open up difficult and dangerous pathways as well…

I think because of this dynamic…. there is so much instruction in the bible on being thankful, grateful and it is a decision that we have to make on an ongoing basis…the battle wages on!

A Thankful Heart:

Serves

Mark 10:45 (NASB95)

45“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Because I am thankful, there is a willingness to serve. When I’m ungrateful and thankless it seems things go very internal for me…It’s very easy to be “all about me”…

When I choose to be thankful, my optics change…my filter is moved…the resources of heaven seem to open up in my mind, my thoughts and life…and i WANT to take the garbage out! lol…

When I am grateful to God, I want to serve God…Do the things that would please God….

It can be a powerful MEASURE of the gratitude and thankfulness in my heart…

A Thankful Heart:

Forgives

Matthew 6:9–13 (NASB95)

9“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.

10‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.

11‘Give us this day our daily bread.

12‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

13‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’

Now Jesus has just modeled prayer for the disciples…But then he adds some commentary afterward that is so powerful!

Matthew 6:14–15 (NASB95)

14“For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

15“But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.

You cannot be thankful & unforgiving…It is dangerous to not forgive!

Look at the end of the parable that Jesus taught in Matt 18:

Matthew 18:32–35 (NASB95)

32“Then summoning him, his lord said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.