James 1:17 — “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
1 Thessalonians 5:18 — “In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
Have you ever wondered as to what’s the sense of thanking anybody for anything? Almost everyone from day one is taught to say “thank you”, my question is why?
I wonder if it isn’t related to the fact that people the world over naturally praise whatever it is they admire.
I’m a soccer fan and I like to watch South American and European soccer. It never ceases to amaze me how wild the fans in the stands can get when their team scores, or especially when some star player scores a spectacular goal. They will even chant his name in unison and go through the motions of bowing down to him.
But we take our praise to a higher level than that when we witness serious self-sacrifice that benefits someone else. This past week I read of a guy who donated a kidney to help someone he didn’t even know.
Suppose it was you that had kidney failure and now you need dialysis. Your doctor tells you that depending on the method prescribed, you will need dialysis treatment anywhere from a few times a week to several times a day. In other words, that routine treatment is going to define your life day after day and week by week. And if you don’t do it, you die.
A year into that miserable routine, a stranger intervenes and donates a kidney to you.
Notice the two things at play here: not only are you greatly benefitted, but that stranger is worthy to be praised big time for their selfless self-sacrifice.
I’m convinced that something like that is going on all the time in our lives. Our self-disregarding God loves to constantly care for us irregardless of the cost.
I read that, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
Notice: the Apostle James is saying that all that you are thankful on any given day actually and ultimately comes to you from God’s heart. You are precious to him, and he is unchanging in his love for you. So “In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
