PASTOR’S CORNER: The thankful heart

On Thursday we celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday, a time for national thanksgiving.

When we read scriptures that reflect on all that we must be thankful for and read them out loud, we can find renewed hearts that are filled with peace and joy.

One of the best remedies for so many issues physically and mentally is the giving of thanks. Most people have not been taught that. They don’t see or out of just ignorance (not knowing) we have forfeited one of the most powerful prescriptions there is and in this season of thanksgiving, I hope somebody will grab a hold of this, thanksgiving for the Christian is not a once-a-year tradition.

Thanksgiving is not built around the dinner table on a certain day. Actually, it is a dishonor to God to wait until a certain time of the year to highlight thanksgiving. The joining of hands around the dinner table and everybody praying together; there’s nothing wrong with that community in and of itself.

The fact that our nation set aside a day for national thanksgiving is a wonderful thing because if nothing else it calls the nation to be thankful, but just being thankful is one thing. Being thankful FOR something or somebody is another thing. For I have found out that for most people there is no object of their thanksgiving, they’re just thankful.

Listen to the language of a lot of the people of the world, and they will say that they are thankful, but they don’t mention to whom they are thankful and certainly they don’t mention God! I believe, and the scripture teaches, that there should always be an object of thanksgiving.

Children who are thankful for their parents give thanks to their parents. That’s their object! People who are married and are thankful for their spouses give thanks to their spouses. People who are thankful for their church give thanks to their church.

There should always be an object of our thanks. Community, there’s nothing wrong with just being thankful; for we the Christian believers are thankful for all of the above, but the primary object of our thanks is God. That’s what the scripture speaks to. It’s the attitude and gratitude that we are to have with God, and giving thanks is an attitude.

Friends, anything that we do is determined by the attitude that we have concerning it. If we have a bad attitude about our jobs, we will not do a good job. We’ll be late, do sloppy work, lay out from work, and get written warnings.

If we have a bad attitude about marriage, we will treat our spouses with disrespect, sometimes verbal and physical abuse.

If we have a bad attitude about the church we will give the church a half-hearted service.

But, if we have a good attitude we will give our best in all of the above. When we are truly grateful to somebody for something that they did we express that gratitude in action; at the least we tell them thank you!

Some of us were taught by our parents when we were young. When somebody gave us something, they would say “What are you supposed to say?” and we’d say, “Thank you!” Community, it’s the attitude. And so, it is with giving thanks, gratitude is an attitude.

Christians of all people on the face of the earth have every reason to be filled with gratitude. That should be our attitude, that of a thankful heart, a THANKFUL and grateful heart! Not sometimes but all the time.

See, God doesn’t want Christians to be a sometime people. He certainly doesn’t want Christians with a bad attitude, to be thankful when we feel like it. True thanksgiving is not a feeling, remember it’s an attitude! Our attitude should be that of gratitude to God!

The next time we are tempted to complain about something give thanks. We should be breathing thanksgiving. He wants the Christians here in Thessalonica to get it, and God wants all Christians to get it; that we are to give thanks in everything (I Thessalonians 5:18). The good and the bad. Because it all works together for our good (Romans 8:28).

I said earlier that the remedy for so many physical and mental problems is the giving of thanks. It’s a spiritual condition and it works. Let me tell you what I mean; anytime you give thanks to somebody for what they have done for you, you feel good on the inside. It’s an emotional response. You feel good and the one you thank feels good when you tell somebody “Thank you!” because everybody wants to be appreciated not because we do things for that reason, but by nature we all want to be thanked and appreciated.

Community, worry, stress or feeling good affect how feel. When we are stressed and worried there are the side effects of headaches, elevated blood pressure, aches, deprived sleep and mental exhaustion. However, when you give thanks to somebody from your heart, everything levels out and you feel so much better, and it affects your whole body.

When a woman gets engaged the excitement of the moment flows throughout her body. She feels so good and she affects everyone around her. Her joy overrides everything else negative in her life. Being thankful produces results that affect our physical and spiritual wellbeing. Therefore, if that be the case, then we ought to practice thanksgiving.

My friends, we can’t pick and choose when we want to give thanks. Real thanksgiving is giving thanks when I don’t feel like it. In everything, let’s give thanks.