What does being thankful really mean? I traced the meaning of thankful, which is gratitude. The meaning of gratitude is grateful. Grateful means appreciative of benefits received. Then it said – more at grace. Grace means unmerited divine assistance given to humans for their sanctification; a virtue coming from God; approval, favor; mercy, pardon.
So thankful truly means being appreciative of the grace we have received.
Are we really appreciative of what the Lord has done for us? Do we give thanks for the sacrifice Jesus made to go to the cross and die a horrible death so that we have the opportunity to spend eternity with Him in Heaven? Do we even include Jesus in our holiday celebrations?
Every day we should be grateful for grace. Jesus did not have to die for our sins, He chose to. Jesus did not have to come to the earth, He chose to. And the amazing thing about it all is we still have freewill. We do not have to follow Jesus, we chose to. We do not have to service Jesus, we chose to.
What breaks my heart is that people do not want to follow Jesus. They look at the world of religion and decide they do not want to be like the person that posts scripture on social media and lives like the world. They do not want to be like the person that hides behind the label Christian while praying for bad things to happen to others.
Christianity is not a status symbol, a club, or a job. Christianity is not about money and power.
It is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It is living out your faith every single day. It is growing closer to the One that gave His life for you. It is loving everyone because Jesus loves them too. It is about grace – something none of us deserves, but He freely gives.
My challenge to everyone reading this is to live out your faith for the next thirty days. Read your Bible. Pray. Study. Treat others with love. Repay evil with kindness. Be slow to anger. Slow to speak. Quick to forgive. Quick to help.
Keep a journal so you can look back and see the difference. Now look around you and see the impression your changes have made in others.
Christianity is not meant to only be used on Sunday, but to live this life as a testimony to the grace of God.
Be appreciative of the grace you have been given. Live it out!
Leave a Reply