“Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.” Psalm 136:1 (NLT)
Welcome to the 25th weekly devotional recap of the year. This week we learnt to develop a culture of gratitude by living for God’s purpose, choosing gratitude over grumbling, practicing gratitude habits, and understanding that God is our sufficiency.
We started this week by learning that one of the ways we can show our gratitude to God for the gift of the life He has given us is to live for His purpose. Gratitude to God is not just in the songs we sing; but also in how we live our lives. We must commit to actively participating in the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:15-21) because that is God’s desire (1 Timothy 2:4).
Tuesday’s article admonished us to choose gratitude over grumbling. Grumbling is an act of ‘faithless complaining’ which shows a lack of faith and trust in God, and it is greatly rebuked by Him (James 5:9, Philippians 2:14). Grumbling is often triggered when we focus on the difficulties of life rather than on the faithfulness of God in our lives. Living a life of gratitude by focusing on God and all we already have keeps us joyful and content, just like Apostle Paul.
Wednesday’s devotional taught us some gratitude habits that we should intentionally cultivate. We should not be like the ungrateful Israelites (Exodus 16: 3) but strive to be like David, who never forgets God’s goodness (Psalm 103: 2). Showing gratitude for salvation and constantly remembering God’s goodness are healthy gratitude habits. Some other gratitude habits include keeping a gratitude journal and expressing gratitude towards those around us; in words, deeds, and otherwise.
On Thursday, we learned to acknowledge God as our source and understand that He alone is sufficient for us, not ourselves nor our possession. Therefore, we must rely on him and no one else. We ought to daily draw our strength from Him because, in Him, we live and move and have our being (Acts 17: 28).
We learnt further on Friday that God is our sufficiency and He has made grace abound to us. We don’t boast in ourselves but in Christ, thanking and praising Him as our source. When we rely on Him totally and realise that He is our sufficiency (2 Corinthians 9: 8), challenges won’t faze us.
God is, has always been and always will be good to us. Therefore, we must intentionally cultivate the habit of thanking Him always.
This weekend, make a conscious effort to rely on Him, trust Him, thank Him, and tell the world about Him; this is how we show our everlasting gratitude.
Have a lovely weekend.
Bible Reading Plan: Psalms 133, 106-107