Thankfulness is an important subject to the apostle Paul and in the Word of God as a whole. Some combination of the word is found 169 times in 162 verses in the NASB and 195 times in 186 verses in the NET Bible. Paul uses the concept over 40 times in his epistles and seven times in Colossians alone (cf. 1:2, 3, 12; 2:7; 3:15, 17; 4:2). The concept of thankfulness in the New Testament comes from the use of two Greek words. The fist is charizomai, which comes from charis, “grace.” The second is homologeo, “to confess, acknowledge,” (Heb. 13:15), (cf. also exomologeo, [Matt. 11:25]). Thankfulness is a mental and/or verbal expression of one’s acknowledgement and appreciation of God’s person, His grace, blessings, and sovereign work in one’s life and the world. Some key ideas related to thankfulness are: biblical understanding, trust, humility and grace, the right focus and values, and joy. It is through the possession and function of these qualities that we become thankful. So, why should we be thankful?
Some General Reasons Why We Should Be Thankful
1. Because it honors God. When we are thankful, we recognize that God exists, and we are acting on the reality of His life as the very source and means of ours. True thankfulness recognizes our total dependence on God and stems from realizing that everything going on in our lives and all we have is the product of God’s sovereign control, infinite wisdom, purposes, grace, and activity (2 Cor. 4:15).
2. Because it is commanded in Scripture. First, the Psalms are filed with the call to give thanks. An example is Ps. 100:4 which says, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.” Then Paul
tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “In everything keep on giving thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus
for you” (my translation). In Colossians, he twice gives the command to be thankful (3:15, 17).
3. Because of the dangerous consequences of thanklessness: Thanklessness is dangerous to self and others. It dishonors God and leads to proud humanism or dependence on man rather than God (cf. Rom. 1:21).
In addition, it leads to bitterness, complaining, and a joyless life (Heb. 12:15). Since thankfulness is a response to the grace of God, its opposite, bitterness with its companions, complaining and grumbling, are the product of an unthankful heart that fails to properly respond to God in faith to His person, infinite wisdom, grace and purposes. Thanklessness promotes pettiness and occupation with self, people, and problems. That in turn creates depression and feelings of hopelessness because
we become focused on our problems rather than on the Lord. But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal
procession in Christ and who makes known through us the fragrance that consists of the knowledge of him in every place
(2 Cor. 2:14).
This verse in 2 Corinthians demonstrates that a thankful and God-focused person counts on God and His triumph and
will manifests the sweet fragrance of a life filed with the knowledge of Christ rather than the spirit of bitterness and
complaining. Thankfulness, then, becomes a spiritual barometer; it is an evidence of the condition of our spiritual life and value system, which should give us a warning if we have ears to hear (cf. Eph. 5:4 & 20 and note the context of each verse.
For verse 4, the context or focus is living as children of God rather than as children of the world [cf. vs.1]; for verse 20, the context or focus is the fruit of the Spirit [cf. vs. 18]). -copied-
