Thanksgiving comes from an attitude of gratitude in which we express appreciation. Thankfulness is rooted in grace and comes from consideration of the benefits received. We are not to be thankful because we should appreciate what we have, but because we understand the value of it and therefore express our gratitude for it. When we want more in our lives it is because we are not realizing the value of what we have now. We live in a fallen world that brings grief and despair that leads to a state of mind in which we can so desire something else that we may even seek death itself. However, rather than succumbing to the grief that the world brings, we should be looking at why it has come upon us. Yes, the things of this world are enjoyable, bring instant gratification, appease our desires, but in the end, they just bring grief. Godly grief is going to bring us to repentance, where the world’s grief seeks death. Repentance is a change of the mind. It is a result of seeing the truth and choosing to follow it and rejecting the previous beliefs that were built upon lies. Grief comes because we are rejecting what God wants for us and seeking to fulfill our own desires without consideration of who we are and how damaging some of these wishes can be to us. God wants us to be happy. Not a fleeting happiness like the world brings, but true happiness. A happiness that starts deep down inside of us and produces a sense of well-being within us. This is where thanksgiving comes from. This type of happiness can only be obtained by taking God at His Word. Christ died for our sins and was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. Those actions that we have done that are bringing us grief, these are the things Christ paid the price for to free us from the part of us that seeks to continually do what is wrong and bring calamity into our lives. The world put Him to death because by His actions they saw their own wickedness, but God raised Him because He was righteous. Now God offers that righteousness to us through faith by grace so that we can walk in newness of life among a fallen world. We cannot offer anything to God to gain this benefit, for it is by grace and therefore given without consideration of merit. The only way to receive it is to believe God when He stated that through Christ’s death for sins and resurrection we have been freed from sin and are now able to walk in newness of life before Him. This new life is one lived with an attitude of gratitude because we understand what He has given us and how we are now able to live apart from the negative influence of this world as a result of salvation. Today, let us pause and give consideration to what God has done and what we have in salvation, and through understanding truly express appreciation, not with words, but with how we live out our lives while enjoying the benefits God has so graciously given to us in Christ.
