Gratitude is everything. Giving thanks is one of the emphases in the Holy Bible. The Bible ties a great deal to thanksgiving. Many of us were brought up to always show gratitude. Some call it the magic word. We've all come to believe that giving thanks is a gateway to receiving more, and this is true, though more logical than metaphysical. Some people are on the autopilot thanks giving route— they give thanks often but don't mean it. Giving thanks this way brings no meaning to the practice.
In giving thanks, two parties are involved. It's just like your daughter thanking you for her homecoming costume. So we have "you" and "your daughter." In Christianity, we give thanks to God, so the two parties are "God" and "you." The Christian faith holds this practice so dear that every activity revolves around it. In the place of worship, thanksgiving is often the first activity. People dedicate a lot of time to giving thanks and it's good, just that many do it wrongly. To Christians, God is the creator and they regard him as the one responsible for providing every good thing. So no matter how logical a Christian achieves a result, they thank God and believe He's responsible for the good.
One main reason why people don't give thanks the right way is that they don't know why they are giving thanks. When you lose the "why" of thanks, it becomes a mere practice. Here are a few reasons why we give thanks.
To Acknowledge God
This is more like praising God. Giving thanks this way is the most basic concept about thanksgiving. The Hebrew and Greek renditions of the scriptures define thanksgiving as acknowledging what is right about God. Things that are right about God are very easy to behold: shelter, natural things like air, oxygen, water, land, plants, animals created by him, etc., are all reasons we acknowledge God. Some people go the other way round to acknowledge God for things he didn't do. The Holy Bible gives credit to God for doing only good things.
We Give Thanks To God Because We See His Hand In Our Daily Endeavors
From the day we were born till the day we die, we'll keep pushing for everything to make our lives better. Christians believe that all of their success is from God. Graduating from high school and college, getting a decent job, getting married, and having kids, paying the mortgage and all. Giving thanks is a way of celebrating the good things that come to us and hoping for more. The sovereignty of God is why we attribute every good thing that happens to us to God.
We Also give Thanks For The Preservation Of Our Lives And That Of Others
There's so much uncertainty in this world that no one knows when he or she will leave this earth. Every day we live on this earth, we thank God for it. We thank God for keeping us and our loved ones alive. People in almost all age groups from 1-100 have died, young and old, but we don't refer to this in our giving of thanks because the same uncertainty that keeps us hoping for another day took them at whatever age they died. Giving thanks is personal and should stay that way. Giving thanks in relation to other people's shortcomings is already outbound and is assumed unacceptable.
Knowing the reason to give thanks doesn't suffice for doing it the right way though it's a great step towards achieving it. We must thrive to give thanks to God the right way.
Give Thanks With A Sense Of Gratitude
Gratitude is about being grateful. You can't do that on autopilot. It is done consciously. This keeps us sane in observing thanksgiving. Gratitude also helps point out why you're giving thanks. Often, emotions might be involved where we express joy, sometimes in the form of a joyful cry, but all the same, we must maintain that heart of gratitude in our giving of thanks.
Giving Thanks Should Be Done In Awe and Humility
Giving thanks should never turn to a time of comparison. Some people have gone the length of listing the things they have, not because they want to give thanks to God but to make others know that they have or are better than them. Some even use this opportunity to mock others. Such thanks in the Holy Bible are unacceptable and tantamount to wasting one's time.
In Giving Thanks, We Can Give To Others
Giving thanks is not just a spiritual exercise where we communicate our gratitude to God. We also share our riches with others. Thanksgiving is an opportunity to be gracious to as many people as possible. It is written in the Bible that whatever we do to others is as though we did it to the Lord, whether Good or bad. This does not necessarily have to be people you share the same faith with, it might be people of varying views, but still, it's part of your giving of thanks.
In all that you do, ensure to give thanks always. Studies have shown that people who give thanks are of a positive mind much more than those who don't. This study is highly supported by the Scriptures. Give thanks, be grateful and stay expectant of greater things.
