I Will Praise God's Name
Hey y'all.
This month, we began our series on Thanksgiving off with what thankfulness means, and boy did we have a long one for you. Today, we’re discussing how to show gratitude and when we should show gratitude. We’ve all heard someone say to us that we should always say please and thank-you. We’re considered ungrateful or rude when we don’t express some level of gratitude when someone does something for us like open a door or give us a gift, but is that all there is to gratitude? Is all that God does for us acknowledged with only a simple thank you? In order to answer this we must look first at how we show true gratitude.
Gratitude is shown through words and actions. To show gratitude, we may say thank you, we may say that we appreciate “x” or “y” thing/action, or we may say that we owe someone repayment for what they have given or done for us. We may, at times, feel like words fall short or we become speechless at the amount of gratitude we feel for the person who gave us the gift or did us the favor. Something makes us feel like our words just aren’t enough. For me, God’s love and mercy leave me speechless. No words could express how grateful I am that He rescued my soul. Words fall short when expressing what my heart wants to say to my Lord, because His sacrifice on Calvary is not something we could ever pay back. What do we do in that situation? What can we do in moments of inexplicable gratitude? What can I do to show what’s in my heart?
In the moments where my heart feels inexplicable gratitude, I sing praises to my God. Psalms 69:30 reminds us to praise God’s name and exalt him with thanksgiving. What does this mean and what does this look like? This means we should give God praise at all times. Our lips should recount the splendor of His glory to all we come in contact with. The way we live our lives should give testimony of where God has saved us from. When words fall short, our fruit (the actions we take) should be the evidence of God’s goodness and mercy and love. Our lives should tell the love story between Jesus and His Bride (the church, which is believers as a whole) Wherever I go, my behavior, my speech, my attitude should make people want to have what I have inside of me and should ask why I am so happy even in the midst of the storm. That is how we show gratitude to God, by showing others that there IS another way. A way that even in the midst of darkness, the light of God’s love and mercy shines through you and in you.
Our lives should be the invitation to others to see what God is like!
“Taste and see that the LORD is good. How happy is the person who takes refuge in him!” Psalms 34:8
We should be telling others of God’s goodness with your lives. I remember a couple times where people have come up to me and asked me if I was a Christian because they could tell something about me was different. Let me just say, it felt great that what I felt inside was visible on the outside. What does this have to do with the topic? Well, if you are grateful to God, that should be reflected in the way we live our lives so that with that testimony, we can win others for the Lord. By our fruits we shall be known and therefore, let us give our neighbors, strangers in the super market, other drivers on the road, and others, a good testimony with the gratitude that pours out from our lips and our lives. Let’s make worship and praise into a lifestyle and not something we only do on Sundays. Share with us some gratitude to God about what God has done in your life.
Love always,
Your sister in Christ,
Michelle Torres