Called to Be Thankful

Posted: October 13th, 2008

One of the clearest and most frequent callings upon people throughout Scriptures is the calling to be thankful.  Repeatedly we are called to give all of our praise and thanksgiving to God. One place this is very clear is throughout the book of Psalms.  Psalm after Psalm calls upon us to “Give thanks to the Lord”.

This is Canadian Thanksgiving weekend.  As a Canadian, who is married to an American, I am thankful because I get to celebrate this holiday twice each year!  That of course means Turkey and stuffing twice and visits to friends and family twice.  It also provides a great opportunity to reflect on God’s provision in our lives.

There are many benefits to being thankful and expressing thanksgiving.  In fact, it is something we should be doing for growth in our lives, even if God didn’t call us to it.  Elsewhere, on my other blog, I’ve written an entire article about the benefits of living a thankful life. Some of these include:

Benefits of Thankfulness

• Thankfulness focuses your minds on the good things of life
• Thankfulness helps you think of the big picture
• Thankfulness reduces stress
• Thankfulness provides hope for the future
• Thankfulness reminds you to be happy now
• Thankfulness puts you in our proper place

And so, while there are many benefits to us for being thankful, the benefits are not WHY we should be thankful.  We should be thankful, because God calls us to be give thanks again and again.  He knows how quickly we forget to be thankful for everything we have and so he reminds us over and over again. Scripture even give us many reasons to give thanks to God.

Reasons to Give Thanks

1. To recognize God’s love and goodness: “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. (Psalm 106:1)”   The very fact that God is good and loving towards us is enough of a reason to give thanks to God.

2. So others will know God:  “Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name; make known among the nations what he has done. (Psalm 105:1)”  We are called to give praise for evangelistic purposes.  As we give credit to God for his good works and give thanks to him, we are proclaiming his works amongst the nations to people who need to know the love and goodness of our Lord.

3. Since you know who God is: “Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of Lords; His love endures forever. (Psalm 136;2-3)”  God deserves thanks and praise simply because he is who he is.  He is God of gods, and Lord of Lords.”

4. Because he delivers us from our enemies, and from tough times: “to him who led his people through the dessert, His love endures forever. And freed us from our enemies, His love endures forever. (Psalm 136:16, 24)” Whenever we go through our tough times, our deserts, God is faithful and delivers us.  He delivers us from our enemies – both the seen and unseen.

You will notice that none of these commands to give thanks are for a specific day of the year.  Thanksgiving does not need to wait for the turkey.  Instead, we need to be giving thanks each day, and all times.  It is possible to develop a life filled with thankfulness.

Being Thankful in Your Business

Thankfulness is also important in your business. In your business you should take time to:

• Thank your customers for shopping with you
• Thank your employees or business partners for their hard work
• Thank your spouse for his or her support
• Thank your mentors and teachers for the support they give you
• Thank the person who told you about your business, because they have enhanced your     life

You should also give thanks to God for everything he has brought to your business:

• Thank God for providing you with a second income
• Thank God for bringing leaders for you to work with
• Thank God for the personal growth you are experiencing
• Thank God for giving you the skills and abilities you need
• Thank God for the friendships you have developed through your business
• Thank God for the company you have to work with
• Thank God that he has a great plan for you

Living a life filled with thanksgiving should be an automatic in our lives.  There are so many benefits to being thankful, that give us enough reason to focus on living a life of thanksgiving.  But even if we received no benefits, we should be thankful because God has called us to be thankful.  The verses in Scripture are not recommendations to be give thanks, but rather are commands!  Through these commands God presents many reasons for us to be thankful.  In our business, we have many more.  We need to be thankful to those around us, and thankful to God for his provision.

Danny Gamache
http://dannyg.makemoreathome.com

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