"Don't Leave It Out"

 

“Don’t Leave It Out”

Some years ago Karen and I hosted a gathering of our home Bible study group. As our guests arrived they parked on the street but were careful to allow space for traffic to pass. A young man across the street came to me and said some cars had to be moved as he was on call for his job and might have to leave on short notice. Our guests complied and as he was walking back to his house I called to him, “You’re welcome!” (He hadn’t thanked us and the flesh got the better of me for his sense of entitlement.)

As I thought about this incident God showed me how it often pictures our prayers. We ask Him for His help and provision and when it comes we go about our business without acknowledging what He’s done or expressing gratitude. We’re quick to find fault with the nine lepers in Luke 17 whom Jesus healed who ran to be pronounced clean with nary a word of thanksgiving but overlook our own lack of gratitude (guilty as charged in more cases than I care to admit). 

Thanksgiving in its various forms appears more than 150 times in Scripture, about 35 of which occur in the Psalms, Israel’s book of songs of thanks and praise growing out of life’s experiences. In God’s Word we’re told to “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise….” (Psalm 100:4); “…Pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” (Philippians 4:6, NLT); “Thank God at all times for everything….” (Ephesians 5:20, PH); “…Be thankful…with gratitude in your hearts to God…giving thanks to God the Father through (Jesus).” (Colossians 3:15-17); “Be thankful, whatever the circumstances may be.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18, PH). (Emphasis added throughout.)

During this Thanksgiving Season I remember a leader in our first church who always included “with thanksgiving” when he prayed publicly. Let’s learn from him and, in the words of a great 1844 hymn, be a “Thankful People” in our words and actions.

Grace and Blessings!

Jim McMillan