Posts Tagged ‘ Thankful ’
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.
Philippians 4:4, ESV
The Lord has done great things for you! Rejoice!
Just as Christ suffered for your forgiveness, you may suffer in this life. Rejoice!
He is in control, and He uses all things for His glory and the good of His Church.
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21, ESV
We are given the boldness, desire, and wisdom to ask the Father for our needs thanks to the One who made it possible and is making us like Himself through His Holy Spirit:
Jesus, the One who died for our forgiveness and rose again to glory!
In today’s video, I think it is pretty clear I had not had my coffee, yet! But if you look in the background, you can see evidence I was about to remedy that.*
The last entry touched on the Las Vegas shooting and how “But for the grace of God, there go I” in terms of how each and every one of us could be capable of committing such an atrocity. Today, I look at the exact opposite end of the spectrum.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German pastor, theologian, and professor who was killed by the Nazis just days before the end of World War II.¹ Both he and James, the brother of Jesus, focused heavily on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7).
The Sermon on the Mount is basically Jesus’ teachings on how the Christian should live. Specifically for today, in 5:16 (ESV), Jesus says:
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
If all we do are good things, but we do not really mention God, how could others give God glory? We may merely be “good people” in the eyes of the world.
Therefore, God gives us the direction we need in this matter:
The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;
Psalm 50:23a, ESV
When we give thanks to God, this directs people to Him! Thankfulness, a lifestyle of gratitude, is the thing that helps to center our life around Christ and leads others to Him.
A heart of gratitude not only gives the glory to God, but it can also help us to feel great and can help others to feel better.
However, the main point is that God is glorified. Gratitude, likewise, can keep us focused on Him so that we are more likely to seek His glory than to turn to anything else – including lashing out at this world and those in it.
Therefore, give thanks to God. As Paul said, give thanks in everything in your life² – yes, everything, even the bad things.
And thank you for joining me today!
daniel
This is your regular reminder to find some wisdom over at Proverbial Thought!
Pursuing Happiness
I am sure will be happy to hear (er … read) that this post will not be too long today!
That being said, the video below is about seven minutes long.
WARNING: There are a few non-child-friendly words in the video. I discovered the video through a politically left-leaning (read: liberal) website (because every now and then, both sides come up with some good stuff!)
Watch the video, and then we shall continue.
Do you know why I found this video so interesting?
Firstly, it is always inspiring seeing people do things that make them happy!
Secondly, this study revealed something … THAT THE BIBLE HAS BEEN SAYING ALL ALONG!
Here are a few examples (NIV):
Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.
Psalm 95:2Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.
Psalm 100:4Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 5:19-20Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Philippians 4:6So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
Colossians 2:6-7
Obviously, being thankful is important. Again, I only listed a few occasions of the Bible talking about being thankful.
If our fallen world keeps finding biblical truths (outside of the Bible), how much more should we be in our Bibles and applying those truths in our lives?
Here is a fun activity for you: open up the Bible app on your mobile device or go to www.biblegateway.com, and do a search for “thanks”, “thankful”, “thankfulness”, or “thanksgiving”, and just read some (or all) of the passages you find.
Then read more!
