The Practice of Godliness: Godliness has value for all things (13 page)

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Authors: Jerry Bridges

BOOK: The Practice of Godliness: Godliness has value for all things

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Thankfulness

Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Psalm 100:4-5

Some virtues of Christian character, such as holiness, love, and faithfulness, are godly traits because they
reflect
the character of God. They are Godlike qualities. Other virtues are godly traits because they
acknowledge and exalt
the character of God. They are God-centered qualities that enhance our devotion to God. Such are the virtues of humility, contentment, and thankfulness. In humility we acknowledge God’s majesty, in contentment His grace, and in thankfulness His goodness.

Thankfulness to God is a recognition that God in His goodness and faithfulness has provided for us and cared for us, both physically and spiritually. It is a recognition that we are totally dependent upon Him; that all that we are and have comes from God.

HONORING GOD

To fail to be thankful to God is a most grievous sin. When Paul recounts the tragic moral downfall of mankind in Romans 1, he begins with the statement, “Although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” To glorify God is to acknowledge the majesty and dignity of His person. To thank God is to acknowledge the bountifulness of His hand in providing and caring for us. And when mankind in their pride failed to give God the glory and thanks due Him, God gave them up to ever-increasing immorality and wickedness. God’s judgment came because man failed to honor Him and to thank Him. If failure to give thanks is such a grievous sin, then, it behooves us to cultivate a spirit of thankfulness that permeates our entire lives.

One of the most instructive passages on the subject of thankfulness is Luke 17:11-19, the account of the healing of the ten lepers. Here were ten men in the most pitiful of all human misery. Not only were they afflicted with a terrible and loathsome disease; they were outcasts from society because of their disease. They had no one to relieve either their physical or emotional suffering. And then Jesus healed them.

As these men went to show themselves to the priest and thus be restored to their families and friends, only one of them, realizing what had happened, turned back to give thanks to Jesus. Ten men were healed, but only one gave thanks. How prone we are to be like the other nine. We are anxious to receive but too careless to give thanks. We pray for God’s intervention in our lives, then congratulate ourselves rather than God for the results. When one of the American lunar missions was in serious trouble some years ago, the American people were asked to pray for the safe return of the astronauts. When they were safely back on earth, credit was given to the technological achievements and skill of the American space industry. No thanks or credit was publicly given to God. This is not unusual. It is the natural tendency of mankind.

In addition to instructing us about human nature, the account of the ten lepers also instructs us about God. Thanking Him for blessings we receive is very important to Him. Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?” Jesus was very much aware that only one returned to give Him thanks. And God is very much aware today when we fail to thank Him for the ordinary as well as the unusual blessings that come to us daily from His hand.

Even the angelic beings around God’s throne give Him thanks. Revelation 4:9 speaks of their giving glory, honor, and thanks to Him who sits on the throne and who lives forever. God has created both angels and men to glorify Him and give Him thanks. When we fail to do this we fail to fulfill one of His purposes for us.

Thanksgiving is taught in the Bible by both precept and example. In 1 Chronicles, the Levites who took part in the temple worship were to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord. The Psalms contain some thirty-five references to giving thanks to God. In eighteen instances in his letters, Paul expresses thanksgiving to God, and there are ten other instances in which he instructs us to give thanks. In all, there are approximately 140 references in the Bible to giving thanks to God. Thankfulness is no minor principle in God’s sight. It is absolutely necessary to the practice of godliness.

One incident from the life of Daniel shows us the importance that this man of God put on giving thanks. We all know the story of Daniel in the lions’ den, but do we remember how he got there? King Darius was persuaded by certain officials who were jealous of Daniel’s position to issue a decree that for thirty days, anyone who prayed to any god or man other than King Darius would be thrown into the lions’ den. When Daniel knew that the decree had been published, he went to his room and three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.

Now if you and I prayed at
all
under those circumstances, we’d be pleading with God for His deliverance. No doubt Daniel did pray for deliverance; but he also gave thanks. Our situation is never so desperate that it is not fitting to give thanks to God. Paul teaches us this principle in Philippians 4:6 when he says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition,
with thanksgiving,
present your requests to God.”

When Paul wrote his letter to the Colossian Christians, he was seeking to deal with an infiltration of manmade philosophy and wisdom into their church. After declaring that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ, he urges the Colossians, “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness” (2:6-7). Paul is dealing with the fundamental issues of the Christian life, and he includes the concept of thanksgiving as one of those fundamental issues. He says we are to
overflow
with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a normal result of a vital union with Christ, and a direct measure of the extent to which we are experiencing the reality of that union in our daily lives.

PURPOSES OF THANKSGIVING

The primary purpose of giving thanks to God is to acknowledge His goodness and honor Him. God says in Psalm 50:23, “He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me.” Psalm 106:1-2 says, “Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the Lord or fully declare his praise?” When we give thanks to the Lord we proclaim His mighty acts; we acknowledge His goodness.

God is infinite in goodness to all His creatures. “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous”; and “He has compassion on all he has made” (Matthew 5:45, Psalm 145:9).

He is most worthy of our praise and thanksgiving, especially if we are among His redeemed people, for He has blessed us not only in the temporal realm, but also with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 1:3).

Thanksgiving promotes not only the glory of God, but also humility in us. It is the tendency of the sinful human heart—even the regenerated heart—to usurp the credit that rightfully belongs only to God. On several occasions God warned the children of Israel against this tendency (see Deuteronomy 8:11-14, 8:17-18, and 9:4-7). In David’s prayer of thanksgiving for the gifts for the temple, he gratefully acknowledged that all of the abundance which the people brought came from and belonged to God. Paul constantly gave thanks to God for the spiritual progress of the churches under his care. He never took the credit for himself.

Thanksgiving also stimulates our faith. In Psalm 50:14-15, God connects thank offerings with calling upon Him in the day of trouble. Remembering God’s previous mercies encourages us to trust Him for mercies we need today. Perhaps this idea is included in Paul’s cure for anxiety in Philippians 4:6-7.

Finally, thanksgiving promotes contentment. Few things will stir up discontent within us as will our inner spiritual struggle between the sinful nature and the Holy Spirit. Its intensity caused Paul to cry out, “What a wretched man I am!” But then he finds relief and contentment in thanksgiving to God for the deliverance promised to us through Jesus Christ (Romans 7:24-25). Thanksgiving will also promote contentment about possessions, position, and providence by focusing our thoughts on the blessings God has already given, forcing us to stop spending our time yearning for things we do not have. Contentment and thanksgiving strengthen each other.

CULTIVATING A THANKFUL HEART

The foundation of an attitude of thankfulness is a life lived in fellowship with Christ. As Colossians 2:6-7 suggests, thankfulness is the overflow of being rooted and built up in Christ. As we abide in Him, as we see His power at work in us and through us, as we call upon Him for our needs and experience His provision, our response will be thanksgiving. Like any other trait of godly character, thankfulness is a result of the Holy Spirit’s ministry in our hearts. He gives us a thankful spirit, but He does this through our fellowship with Christ.

But though an attitude of thankfulness is the work of the Holy Spirit, it also comes as a result of personal effort on our part. We must cultivate the habit of always giving thanks for everything (Ephesians 5:20). One way we can do this is to expand our mealtime expression of thanks to include other blessings beyond the food before us. Another way is to begin and end the day with a time of thanksgiving. Psalm 92:1-2 says, “It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night.” As we arise in the morning we can thank God for His love, which is assured to us throughout the day. As we retire we can thank Him for specific demonstrations of His faithfulness during the day.

Another practical help is to write down the prayer requests you make to God; then keep those answered requests on your list until you feel you have adequately thanked God for His answer. Along with my written prayer requests, I also keep a list of significant blessings for which I am always thankful. I try to go over this list two or three times a week to express my thanks to God for His goodness to me. My thanksgiving list includes the following items: