And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Colossians 3:15

     The best place to be, the best way to be, and the greatest thing to want to be is thankful. And, if there is anything a saved sinner ought to be, it is to be thankful. We can be thankful when we can't be anything else. Actually, we shouldn't want to be anything but thankful people. Thankful people do not worry about the future nor regret the past, and they are not afraid to face the present. If we're having problems with any of those three tenses of life, it's most likely caused from ingratitude.

     We must remember that as believers we have no rights; we are slaves to righteousness and we'd best be thankful that's our case. The only other option is to be slaves to Satan! Thank the Lord Jesus Christ for redeeming us and freeing us from the bondage of sin and shame! It gives us nothing else besides eternal life. That should be enough to thank Him for the rest of our lives on Earth and beyond. Even if we had to bear the pain of poverty, we could say without a doubt, "All this and Jesus too!"

     Also, never forget that as forgiven sinners, we have absolutely no reason to complain, ever! There is no way a person can complain and be thankful at the same time. Life is too short to be a complainer and too precious not to be thankful. I read this one line prose recently:

Life is short, death is sure:

Sin is a curse, Christ is the cure!"

     When we realize how short our time on Earth really is and that death will be knocking on our door very soon, we will understand that each day is a gift from God and to complain about something our perfect, Heavenly Father gives us just wouldn't be right. On top of that, to view sin as a curse and will only cause everything to get worse and worse, but to know Jesus Christ is the remedy indeed for such a noxious seed will clear away our complaints and replace them with compliments for His grace and mercy.

     We ask our children, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"  They may say, a baseball player, a doctor, or a teacher. Every Christian should aspire to be thankful. And, as we grow older, grow closer to God, grow more familiar with His Holy Word, we find ourselves more thankful than we ever thought we'd be, no matter the circumstances or situations at hand.

     There are times in every believer's walk of faith in which they may struggle with what the Lord wants them to do. However, there is never a step taken by faith whereby a child of God should wonder what the Lord wants them to be; for He says plainly, "Be ye thankful," which means "you be thankful." Now the Lord always says what He means, but He also means what He says! We don't have to feel good, or be ecstatic to be in God's will. We must though, "Be Thankful" to be in His will.

     Being thankful is a powerful witness of God's grace in our lives. Jesus also said something else about what we should be, lights.

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.   Matthew 5:14

     He also warned us about not covering up the light. Being thankful removes the covers which prevent the light He has lit in our hearts from shining in a dark and sinful world. Being thankful helps us keep on the "sunny side" of life so to speak. A flashlight with mud or grime covering the lens won't do much good no matter how strong the batteries are. A thankful spirit wipes away our doubts and worries and keeps the way clear for expressing the love of the Lord Jesus Christ in our lives every day. Being thankful says a lot about what Christ means to us and what others mean to us too! Thankfulness implies peace with God and peace with others, including ourselves. This peace in our hearts is a fruit of the Holy Spirit and breeds thanksgiving in our souls.

     Peace nor thankfulness come by default though. They happen because Jesus Christ died on the cross for us. He took our place there, paid the penalty we owed in full and rose from the grave to prove His Father's satisfaction. As profound and as permanent as Christ's work of redemption at Calvary is, would you believe a Christian at times may not be thankful? Unfortunately this happens. It's happened to me and most probably has or will happen to you. Being thankful is vital to our fellowship with God and promotes our witness of our faith in our Savior. Therefore we should take note of our everyday thankfulness and put it high on our to do list, or rather our "to be" list!

Think Thankfully

     If we think about something long and hard enough, must likely we'll end up doing it. One thing for sure is that God knows our thoughts and since He does, it would be best to think thankful thoughts. It's easier because of our unredeemed flesh, to think sinful thoughts. By the way, God knows about them too!

     We must be intentional when it comes to thinking thankfully. Things are not always what they seem, but God is good all the time! When things are not going our way, and that happens a lot, is the time to put our "thanking" caps on. A good example of doing just that is found in the life of one of God's servants. His name was Job. Remember, he had lost so much, which didn't seem right at  all, yet when his wife tried to discourage him, he offset her punch with a thankful thought.

But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.  Job 2:10

     Here is a case where a man is thankful for all things, good and evil. God does command us to be thankful for all things doesn't He? Job may not have felt like being thankful, but He thought about it anyway. There is a correlation brought out in that verse too regarding a fool and thanksgiving. A foolish person is an unthankful person. It goes deeper than that though because the Bible declares a fool to be one who says there is no God.

     The most important thing about anybody is what they think of God. If we think of our God as good, wise and sovereign and that He loves us unconditionally, then we will think thankfully no matter what we face or are forced to deal with in this life. Jesus said, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." Are you thinking thankfully today? It's who you are! Is that who you want to be?

Trust Thankfully

     A practical definition of faith is to trust God with everything. If we are walking by faith and living for the glory of God, then we have to be trusting God and we will also find ourselves being thankful. Being fully thankful is in direct proportion to our being fully faithful.

TRUST HIM & BE THANKFUL!

     The truth is, and this is one category where the truth makes us free, that we serve a God that we can trust. God's faithfulness is surely one of His Divine traits to be thankful for. If we can't trust God, then who can we trust? But we can trust Him and He delights in us trusting Him. Often our God will providentially place us in places or with people who are not trustworthy. When this happens, it is an opportunity to trust in Him and also to be thankful that we have a God we can count on

     Life can throw some curves that are hard to hit and sometimes  disappointment is awful depressing. When this happens is the time to trust thankfully. It's alright to trust God in advance for what He is going to do even if He hasn't done it yet. Sometimes God sends trouble our way just to grow our patience. While we wait we can also grow our thankfulness. No matter what we're going through we can be sure good things are going to outweigh the bad things. And what tips the scales toward the good things is thankfulness. God gave His son and gives us His Word that He will provide everything we need. How can we not be thankful for that? Only if we don't believe Him and trust Him!

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 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.  Romans 8:31-32

Try Thankfully

     According to the Bible, we are created "unto good works." In other words, God didn't save us just to be trophies on a shelf. He saved us to do good works. A good work is anything we do that glorifies God. Next time you get ready to do something, ask yourself if it will bring God glory by doing it. If it won't, don't do it. But if it will, at least try to do it.

     The good we do or want to do is always prompted by God. Remember that every good and every perfect gift comes from above from the Father of lights, who does not change or vary. The Spiritual gift God has given is given to be used for His glory. When we don't use these gifts, God doesn't get the glory and we don't get the good. But even worse, when we don't use them, we are implying that we are not thankful for them. If you gave someone a new coat as a gift and they never wear it, but leave it hanging in the closet with the sale tags on it, wouldn't you feel that the person you gave it to didn't really appreciate it much? Well, that's a glimpse of the way our Heavenly Father must feel when we don't even try to do what He's asked us to do, which is really the greatest of gifts in itself.

     We should be so thankful to be a part of God's spiritual team as the elect family of God, even if we are only bench warmers. And, should God put us in the game for just one play and the pressure is on and we feel most inadequate, by His grace we should at least give it a try

     Thankful people won't hardly quit because they are grateful just for the opportunity to glorify God, even if they fail. Actually, the person who has never failed, probably has never done very much either. Although thankfully trying doesn't always mean success as we measure it, it does help us learn from our mistakes. God has to use failures. He has no one else to choose from. Lots of time though, failure is really the back door to success!

     A most tragic regret for the Christian is reflecting over our past lives and noting the opportunities we missed all because they looked too much like work, and coming to grips with the reality that we didn't even try. It is true, it's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. Likewise, it is much better to try to do good and fail than never to have tried at all. Have you forgiven the person who hurt you? Have you loved somebody who is hard to love? Have you believed God when everything around you is falling to pieces? Are you thankful for all things? Have you tried?

Brother Randy