Why Give Thanks I Colossians 2:6 – 7 (KJV)

6As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:  7Rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving in the Greek is eucharisteo and is used in the bible as the response due to God from his people. It is the act of expressing specific gratitude for the blessings God has bestowed upon us.

Thanksgiving is a confession of blessing; it draws the heart to God, taking the attention off of me and places it where it should be; on God.

What other gift can we give to God other than Praise and thanksgiving? True thanksgiving does not consist primarily of deeds, but it is the disposition of the heart, and it brings a person nearer to God and enables them to see God’s salvation and His faithfulness.

I tremble as I read the gospel account of the ten cleansed lepers (Luke 17). They were ceremonially defiled and forced to live outside the village. Imagine the terrible suffering they must have endured with this horrible disease and then, the joy they must have felt when Jesus turned their world upside down.

But I also tremble when I ask myself the question: If I had been among those ten men healed that day, would I have run away with the nine, or bowed down with the one? Would I have rushed off to enjoy the gift, or stopped to thank the Giver? Would Jesus have found in me a grateful heart?

This question sobers me because I know that an attitude of gratitude is one sure sign of a soul crucified to pride and selfishness.

I tremble as well, to remember that ingratitude is a clear indicator of the heart turned in on itself—of the proud, restless ego that is never satisfied, that believes the world owes it whatever it can get.

The others nine were so eager to be declared clean  and to return to a normal life they forgot to give thanks.

Whether complaining that the gift is not good enough, or too absorbed in the gift to say thanks, the ungrateful person spurns the Giver in favor of self.

When Jesus came by and changed our lives, were we like the lepers who become so engulfed in the gift that we forgot the giver? Take some time today to express your gratitude to God for His unspeakable gift, His Son Jesus Christ.

Psalm 100

2 Corinthians 9:15