God wants us to be thankful towards Him. David often reminds us in the Psalms, to be thankful to Him. In the Bible, Israel is often rebuked for not having a heart of thankfulness towards God. They were His children and He, their Father.
Any parent who has experienced a thankless child, knows the pain that a Father and Mother feel when their child forgets about all the sacrifice they have made for them and all the nurturing they have invested in their child. The child rebels against their authority, not even seeking their parents’ instruction and direction. Although not all parents are genuinely seeking the best for their children and some parents act out of selfishness and are manipulative, there is usually always a handful of things that any child can be thankful for, towards their parents.
Our Heavenly Father who never makes mistakes, unlike human parents do, loves and cares for His children. Imagine the pain that we cause Him when we reject His loving direction, deny Him the credit for our many blessings, blame Him for our mishaps, and flatly ignore His instructions and correction. Imagine how He feels when we give other ‘gods’ the credit for who we have become and what we have been given. We are often thankless children and in need of correction. This saddens our Heavenly Father, but He waits for us to return to Him with a thankful heart.
Thankfulness is a God given attribute. Our wonderful Creator has interwoven His amazing character into the design of His creation. In this way, He is constantly showing us who He is and how He operates. A big example of this is the family. He has designed the Father and Mother figures of the family to nurture their children just like He nurtures His children.
In this world of ours, we see lots of broken relationships and families. Fathers and Mothers are failing each other and their children. Children are failing their parents. We are all children. As a child, how are you doing in the call of God to show thankfulness to your parents? How thankful are you for the parents God gave you? God calls us to this no matter how bad we think we have had it. God’s love, forgiveness and honour are not earned or deserved, they are given by the will, and only done with God’s enabling. Thankfulness is also God enabled. Are you willing to let God teach you to be thankful?
In response to my Heavenly Father’s instruction, I want to honour my wonderful parents. God has given me a remembrance of much of my childhood and the ways my parents served each other and their children sacrificially, and in so doing served their Heavenly Father. They were not perfect but gave much, for which I am very thankful to Almighty God.
I want my actions towards my parents, to show them just how much I am thankful for them and for all they have done for me. In so doing, I also want to show my Heavenly Father how thankful I am to Him for the parents that He gave me.
As I said previously, thankfulness is an attribute of God and we do not have the ability to do it ourselves. If we are a child of God, we must ask Him to show us where we need to be thankful and how to be thankful. He will do it through us and reveal to us the areas of our lives where we need to show thankfulness towards Him for His many provisions for us.
Written by our lovely mother,
Mrs Evelyn Hair
Any parent who has experienced a thankless child, knows the pain that a Father and Mother feel when their child forgets about all the sacrifice they have made for them and all the nurturing they have invested in their child. The child rebels against their authority, not even seeking their parents’ instruction and direction. Although not all parents are genuinely seeking the best for their children and some parents act out of selfishness and are manipulative, there is usually always a handful of things that any child can be thankful for, towards their parents.
Our Heavenly Father who never makes mistakes, unlike human parents do, loves and cares for His children. Imagine the pain that we cause Him when we reject His loving direction, deny Him the credit for our many blessings, blame Him for our mishaps, and flatly ignore His instructions and correction. Imagine how He feels when we give other ‘gods’ the credit for who we have become and what we have been given. We are often thankless children and in need of correction. This saddens our Heavenly Father, but He waits for us to return to Him with a thankful heart.
Thankfulness is a God given attribute. Our wonderful Creator has interwoven His amazing character into the design of His creation. In this way, He is constantly showing us who He is and how He operates. A big example of this is the family. He has designed the Father and Mother figures of the family to nurture their children just like He nurtures His children.
In this world of ours, we see lots of broken relationships and families. Fathers and Mothers are failing each other and their children. Children are failing their parents. We are all children. As a child, how are you doing in the call of God to show thankfulness to your parents? How thankful are you for the parents God gave you? God calls us to this no matter how bad we think we have had it. God’s love, forgiveness and honour are not earned or deserved, they are given by the will, and only done with God’s enabling. Thankfulness is also God enabled. Are you willing to let God teach you to be thankful?
In response to my Heavenly Father’s instruction, I want to honour my wonderful parents. God has given me a remembrance of much of my childhood and the ways my parents served each other and their children sacrificially, and in so doing served their Heavenly Father. They were not perfect but gave much, for which I am very thankful to Almighty God.
I want my actions towards my parents, to show them just how much I am thankful for them and for all they have done for me. In so doing, I also want to show my Heavenly Father how thankful I am to Him for the parents that He gave me.
As I said previously, thankfulness is an attribute of God and we do not have the ability to do it ourselves. If we are a child of God, we must ask Him to show us where we need to be thankful and how to be thankful. He will do it through us and reveal to us the areas of our lives where we need to show thankfulness towards Him for His many provisions for us.
Written by our lovely mother,
Mrs Evelyn Hair
2 comments
Thankfulness is such a good habit to cultivate... and a good deterrent to being down. I have been reminded that God didn't take the murmuring and complaining lightly when the Children of Israel did it... and He doesn't when we do it either. Much to be thankful for... but we don't always focus on that and need to be sure we do. :)
ReplyDeleteHi Gentle Joy
DeleteThanks for the comment. How true. Thankfulness is so important and yet so easy to forget.