How important is thankfulness to you?

It’s good to ask this, because being thankful is often seen as nice, but not all that necessary. After all, if someone passes you a peppermint in church, you can enjoy the peppermint, whether or not you’ve said thanks. Sure, our parents tell us to mind our “p’s” and “q’s”. But it often seems like you can get away without them.

The Word of God, however, teaches us otherwise.

In Romans 1, the Apostle Paul describes the ungodly world as those who “neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him” (1:21). Being ungrateful is no small thing: it is the first step in rejecting God and plunging into a life of darkness! The first sin of Adam and Eve also had this root. By eating from the one forbidden tree, they showed themselves ungrateful for all the other trees the LORD God had given them. It has been said that when and where you are not thankful, there the devil has a foothold in your life.

The Christian, on the other hand, must live in thankfulness. In Scripture, we read that Daniel prayed and gave thanks three times a day (Daniel 6:10). We are constantly warned not to be murmurers and grumblers. It was for sins like these that the LORD did not allow a whole generation to enter the Promised Land. In 1 Timothy 4 the apostle Paul tells us “everything God created is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the Word of God and prayer” (4:4-5). Paul there adds one qualification over God’s good blessings: they must be received with thanksgiving. Without that the good things we enjoy are not holy, not fit for use in God’s service. Giving thanks is itself a blessing on God’s gifts!

In Philippians 4:6 we read that we are never to be anxious but to bring our requests to God, with one key ingredient: with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving demonstrates that we are not spoiled, ungrateful children. And it reminds us we are children who in every circumstance do enjoy blessings from our heavenly Father, and who therefore have no need to worry.

But there is much more. The Heidelberg Catechism points out that a thankful life is the new life Christ redeems us for and renews in us (Q/A 86). In other words, being thankful is not a peripheral thing in the Christian life. It is the Christian life.

To understand this, we need to remember that the catechism is speaking about more than just saying thanks. Christ renews us “so that with our whole lives we may show ourselves thankful to God.” Our catechism is echoing texts like Romans 12:1:

Offer your bodies as living sacrifices.

In the New Testament Age, we no longer have to sacrifice animals – Christ has given Himself as the great and only sin offering. But one sacrifice remains: the thank offering – which is our very lives.

Here we are being taught about the nature of worship. Worship is, first of all, exclaiming praise and thanks, two threads that always belong together. For the LORD’s glory is his goodness and steadfast love, and which have been forever woven together in the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. But worship, is greater than our voices. Even that is joyful, but there are greater joys for us! Christ renews us so that our whole lives can be worship!

How does that work, you may be wondering? I can see how my words give praise and thanks to God. But my life?

It goes like this: In worship, we tell God how much He is worth. We give Him the praise and glory that we see He is due.

In our lives, we show God how much He is worth. In the decisions we make, the life we pursue, the words we live by, in all this and more, we have the opportunity to show God how much He is worth. Our lives can give weight to our thanks and depth to our praise.

Look at your life. Does it show that your God is worth everything to you? Is it your delight to show yourself thankful, serving the Lord with the sacrifice of your life?

You may not have a beautiful voice to sing your thanks in harmony with others. But you can worship God with a beautiful life, one that is lived more and more in harmony with his will. This is the sweet tune of thankfulness – a life in tune with the LORD.