Focus: Thank God for Grace

Text: Ps.100:4; Col.3:15.

"Be thankful unto him, and bless his name."

"Be ye thankful."

We are in the season of thanksgiving. Once upon a year we have cause to thank God for bringing us through. And that is outside our daily habit and practice of thanking God.

It is my firm belief that whoever is thankless is indeed thoughtless. For those who think, always thank.

*Why do we thank God? Because He's worthy of it. He made us. He redeemed us. He is constantly at work in us and for us. He is deserving of our gratitude.

*What do we thank God for? We thank God basically for grace. All blessings flow from grace. We are recipients of undeserving favor of God. His favor comes to us with different flavors. Even the word 'thank' or 'thanksgiving' in the Greek is based on 'charis,' which is the word for grace. So in thanking God we are simply returning grace to the giver of all graces.

Singing is returning grace. Offering or giving is returning grace. Worshipping is returning grace. Serving is expending divinely invested grace in one's life.

Grace is God's investment in us; gratitude is our acknowledgment and celebration of it.

Let us, like Paul, give thanks and take courage.

*When do we thank God? At all times. Good times. Bad times. Tough or rough times. Best or worst of times. Normal times. Abnormal times. Supernormal times.

Listen, don't only thank God by mouth; thank him with a good offering. Make God feel the impact of your thanksgiving. Thank him also by good works. Amen.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter