Gratitude (or thanksgiving, appreciativeness, praise, honor) is due to God from all living things because the Bible says, “Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord” (Psalm 150:6). Human beings have the greatest obligation to render gratitude to God for the simple fact that God made us in His own image and gave us dominion over all other creatures (Gen 1:26-28). While there are innumerable reasons why gratitude is due to God from His creatures only (6) are highlighted and discussed in this message for the sake of brevity. In general, the 6 reasons portray either the will, injunction, or attributes of God. Happy reading in the mighty name of Jesus:
#1. God Desires Receiving Gratitude
It is the desire of God that we give Him thanks for everything in our lives. This is stated severally in His word as indicated in the following scriptures:
• “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thess. 5:18).
• “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;” (Eph. 5:20).
From the forgoing scriptures, it is obvious that God wants the gratitude from us to Him to be:
• Personal (“concerning you”). That is, directly from you to God
• Perpetual (“always”). That is, all the times
• Pervasive (“in every thing”, “for all things”), For all things and all circumstances.
One Biblical story that affirms the appreciation God has for giving of gratitude is about the healing of 10 lepers by Jesus Christ (Luke 17: 12-19). When the 10 lepers cried to Jesus for mercy, He gave a simple instruction, “..Go shew yourselves unto the priests.” (Luke 17:14, KJV). As they obeyed and went, they were all cleansed. However, only one of the 10 lepers returned to give thanks (Luke 17: 12-19). The one who returned gloried God with a loud voice falling on his face at the feet of Jesus Christ, giving Him thanks (v.17). Jesus Christ rewarded the leper who returned to give thanks with additional blessing by declaring to him “..Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole” (v. 19).
Given that Jesus Christ is omniscient He must have known that all the 10 lepers were cleansed. However, He still asked the questions, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?” (v17). These questions asked by Jesus seem to suggest that He disapproved the ungrateful attitude of the 9 lepers who did not return to give thanks for their cleansing. Aside from the ‘rebuke’ Jesus ditched out to the 9 lepers who did not return to give thanks, no further information was available about them beyond their cleansing.
Obedience and giving of thanks are two important lessons the believer can learn from the miracle of healing of the 10 lepers. The believer will not be doing God’s will if he/she fails to give gratitude to Him for what He has done for you and is doing for you. Remember, God loads us with benefits everyday (Ps. 68:19). Obviously, His will must be that He expects us to give Him thanks every day for everything. Expression of gratitude to God can take various forms including praising, worshiping, testifying, giving, serving, witnessing, sponsoring specific projects in your church in acknowledging specific thing God has done for you, etc.
#2: Goodness of God
Gratitude is due to God because He is good (Psa. 73:1) and His creatures are good (1 Tim 4:4). As God was systematically creating all things in Genesis chapter one, He was evaluating the quality of each product/thing or group of product(s) / thing(s) created at each stage. In this regard, He described the following as “good” immediately upon creation: light (v4), Earth and Seas (v.10), grass, herb and fruit (v.12), sun, moon and stars (vs 16-18), whales and winged fowl (v 21), beast and cattle (v 24-25). It is notable that man, the last and only thing created in God’s own image, was described “as very good” (Gen 1:31). Additionally, man was given dominion over all other creatures.
One of the most important reasons we must give gratitude to God for His goodness is because it is the bedrock of our salvation for Apostle Paul, the writer of the book of Romans pointed out that it is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance (Rom. 2:4). Additionally, God’s goodness is inexhaustible for it is “abundant” (Exo 34:6) and “endureth continually” (Pas. 52:1). While God’s goodness is abundant and inexhaustible, sinners can only benefit from it if they take advantage of it by confessing (while still alive) their sins, repenting, and asking Jesus Christ to forgive those sins and be the Lord of their lives. Anyone who receives Jesus Christ in this way will receive salvation because of the goodness of God in keeping His promises (John 1:12; John 3:16; Rom. 10:8-9; Rom. 3:23). On the other hand, anyone who dies in his/her sins without accepting Jesus Christ his/her Lord and Savior can no longer enjoy the goodness of God that leads to repentance. People that die without believing and receiving Jesus Christ into their life will be judged and condemned to eternal death/ second death (John 6:23a; Heb 9:27; Rev 21:8).
If you have not given your life to Jesus Christ before, do it today and begin to enjoy the goodness of God. All you need is to pray this prayer by faith: Lord Jesus, thank You for paying the penalty for all my sins by dying on the Cross of calvary. I am sorry for all my sins and I repent of them all. Please have mercy and forgive me my sins and come into my life today to be my Lord and Savior and empower me to live and serve you all my life, in Jesus name.
If you want the goodness and mercy of God to follow you all the days of your life as it did for David (Psalm 23:6), then cultivate David’s attitude of always giving gratitude to God (Ps. 34:2)
# 3 God is a Giver.
God deserves to be thanked and praised for being a giver, the best giver for that matter. The Bible declares that everything good in this world was given by God: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17).The best of God’s gift is obviously His Son, Jesus Christ through whom we can receive salvation (John 3:16) and be reconciled with God (2 Cor. 5:18). Jesus Christ is a perfect all-encompassing gift from God because anyone that has Him has the potential to have everything else, he/she needs in life. Two among several scriptures that lend support to the truism of ‘Have Christ, have all your needs met’ are:
• “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32).
• “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, 3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue” (2 Peter 1: 2-3).
God has given the believer the assurance that anything he/she needs can be obtained simply by asking for the Bible declares, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matt. 7:7). Aside from being free and perfect, God’s gifts are without repentance (Rom 11:29). That is, God, unlike human beings, will not change His mind or willfully revoke His decision about something He has given you. How grateful are you to God for his gifts to you of: life, air, sun, salvation, family, friend, peace, shelter, and other things that pertain to life?
#4 Greatness of God
Another important reason the Bible gives to us why gratitude (thanksgiving, or praise) is due to God is because of His greatness. At least 3 verses in the Bible elucidate this fact:
• “For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised: he also is to be feared above all gods” (1 Chronicles 16:25).
• Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. (Psalm 48:1).
• For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods. (Psalm 96:4).
The greatness of God can be seen all over the Bible expressed in terms of His works, His nature and several other characterizations. For example, the phrase, “Thine O LORD is the greatness..” (1 Chronicles 29:11), connotes that God is the bona fide owner of greatness. One implication of this is that God has control over greatness and can give it to whosoever He wishes. No wonder He promised Abraham to make him a great nation, bless him and make his name great (Gen 12:2). Indeed, God fulfilled this promise as evident in Genesis 13:2 which declares that Abraham “was very rich in cattle, silver and gold”. Furthermore, Isaac the son of Abraham was blessed by God and he, “...waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great” (Gen 26: 13). I decree that the God of greatness shall make you and your children great and your mouth shall be filled with giving gratitude to Him, in the mighty name of Jesus.
#5 Generosity
Generosity is defined as readiness and liberality in giving. Generosity can also be defined as the quality of being kind and unselfish, especially as it pertains to sharing resources (money and other valuables) with others. God is the epitome of generosity as evident in the offering of His Son, Jesus Christ as a sacrifice to atone for our sins to prevent us from perishing (John 3:16). For the gift of His son alone, God deserves gratitude (or thanksgiving) from us. Apostle Paul, in His writing alluded to this when he Said, “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.” (2 Cor. 9:15). That unspeakable gift is non other than the Jesus Christ, the Son of God, full of grace.
Aside from the gift of His only begotten son, God has demonstrated His generosity to humans in many other ways. For example, God owns the earth and the heavens full of innumerable resources (the sun, the moon and the stars, water, land, trees, animals, gold, etc.) which He shares generously with us as humans (Psalm 24:1; Hag 2:8; Gen 13:14-17). Many of the resources God has generously provided are available to both the good and the wicked as the scripture declares that, God: “..maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45).
God expects us, as believers, to be generous as He is because He wants us to be blessed. Few among many scriptures supporting this notion are as follows:
• “The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor” (Pro.22:9).
• “I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35).
• “One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty”. (Pro. 24:11).
• A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed (Pro. 11:24-25).
From the foregoing scriptures we can deduce that, if you are generous with your talents, time and treasures, you will be blessed by God.
#6 Grace
Grace can be defined as a manifestation of favor or something done or granted out of goodwill, rather than from justice or for remuneration. Some of the acronyms for grace are “mercy”, “favor”, “pardon”, “clemency”, “elegance”, etc. Grace is an essential attribute of God that portrays His generosity to humans. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is grace personified as portrayed by the scripture that says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). It is out of His inexhaustible fullness of grace and His generosity that God has made provision for the salvation of all people that will believe in His Son (Jesus Christ) and accept Him as their Savior. Grace, along with Jesus Christ, is God’s best gift to the entire world (Rom 5:15, 1 Cor 1:4).
Aside from its important role in salvation (Eph. 2:8), grace is a transformer and a promoter as evident in the life of the persecuting Paul who became, first a minister (Eph 3:7), and then an Apostle (Rom. 1:5; 1 Cor 15:10); grace is the conveyor of God’s everlasting consolation and good hope to believers (2 Thess. 2:16); grace helps us in the time of our need (Heb,4:16);
Grace justifies us before God who is holy (Rom 3:24; Eph.1:6), etc.
The grace of God and the appertaining blessings to the believer are innumerable and inexhaustible. No wonder the Bible says God gives more grace to the humble (James 4:6).
When Apostle Paul was given a thorn in the flesh as a messenger of Satan, to buffet him, and he cried three times to God for removal of the thorn, God simple answer to Paul was “My grace is sufficient for thee . .” (2 Cor. 12:7-10). God can give more grace because He has it in surplus.
Believers must render unreserved thanks and gratitude to God for His abundant supply and flow of grace for our salvation, for serving God, humanity and for many other blessings.
Conclusion
Pleasing God is central to living a Christ-like life and making it to heaven. In this regard, obedience to God’s laws and injunctions deserve close attention compliance. Giving gratitude to God is His heart’s desire that believers must adhere to strictly. There are many reasons why God is well deserving of gratitude from His followers. Six of these reasons as discussed in this ministration are the fact that: (a) God desires to be accorded gratitude, (b) God is good, (c) God is a giver, (d) God is generous (e) God is great (f) God is gracious. Believer must consider it an honor and privilege to be called upon to give gratitude to God who has done so much for them including saving their souls and making room for them to reign with Him in heaven. Furthermore, giving gratitude to God attracts blessings from God which money can not buy. God will only accept the gratitude of anyone who has given his/her life to Him by accepting Jesus Christ as his/her Savior. If you have not, do so today and join the group of believers who are giving gratitude to God, being blessed, and looking forward to reigning with God in His Kingdom in heaven.
