Thanksgiving Attitudes

Give Thanks.  Seems like an easy thing to do.  Have a holiday set apart for such an occasion.  But are we truly thankful.  There are several verses in the Psalms which exhort us to give thanks.  

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.  Psalm 9:1

Give thanks, whole hearted thanks, nothing left out, nothing held back.  Thanksgiving is really about attitude isn’t it.  Are you having trouble giving thanks in every circumstance as Paul exhorted the church at Thessalonica to do. 1 Thessalonians 5;18

Thanksgiving with the whole heart flows from these attitudes that take root deep in our hearts.

Humility - we don’t deserve the blessing we enjoy, give thanks.  Proud people are not thankful people.  It is hard to give thanks if you think you deserve everything you have. 

Brokenness - Aware of our own sinfulness we are thankful for God’s grace in giving His son to die in our place on the cross. Brokenness is the doorway to true thanksgiving. 

Dependance - we depend upon God for everything, we are not self made people. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture and without him we can do nothing.   Give thanks 

Prayer - A thankful heart is a praying heart. 

Contentment - God’s care for us is perfect.  God will take care of us.  Discontented people are seldom thankful people. 

Peace - God is in control, we can rest in that control and give thanks. Anxious people are not thankful people.

Worship - The Lord is good and his steadfast love endures forever, give thanks.  Thanksgiving and Worship are inseparably linked in Scripture. 

Watchfulness - Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our Great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.   I’ve been watching the news for the last two hours and I am reminded of what Paul said in Colossians 3:1-3- If our eyes are earthbound we will have a hard time giving thanks.

Faith - without faith it is impossible to please God  Hebrews 11:6.  We believe that God is in control and that all things are working for our good and God’s glory.

Rejoicing - rejoice in hope, in Christ’s forgiveness, in God’s work in your life and fellow  believers.  Thanksgiving should be a time of rejoicing.  God is in control.

Service - Serving the Lord is an expression of thanksgiving.  'Serve the Lord with gladness...'  Psalm 100

Hope - Has your hope given way to despair?  Is your hope in government?  Is your hope in yourself?  “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness, I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus name.”  Giving thanks in hope, assurance that we have a home prepared in heaven, God is in control, our sins have been forgiven in Christ.  Do you have such hope?  Hebrews 6:18-20

I’m sure there are more attitudes to add to this list. But let us this thanksgiving and every day Give thanks with our whole heart.  Are you having trouble giving thanks? Check your attitude.

Psalm 79:13  But we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever;
from generation to generation we will recount your praise.
Psalm 86:12 I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever.
Psalm 92:1  It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
Psalm 97:12  Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name!
Psalm 100:4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!