Giving Matters: Giving Thanks posted by jwatson on Oct 28, 2011

One of the best ways we can share our faith in Christ is by giving thanks. Expressing gratitude marks off the follower of Christ from a darkened, thankless world.

Comedian Louis C.K. once remarked, “Everything is amazing right now and nobody’s happy.”  It’s true.  Consider the changes we’ve seen in our lifetime:

• Remember when you could only make a phone call from your house? Now we’re irritated if our cell phone service drops out when driving.
• Remember when you wanted to look something up, you had to either go to the library or consult a set of encyclopedias? Now we can search for virtually anything from our laptop computer and have an answer from an expert within seconds.

Consider how travel has changed. When flying today, we forget that we are hurdling through space, traversing vast tracts of land at a speed of several hundred miles per hour while sitting in a chair and watching TV. A century ago it took years to travel from New York to California, often with people dying during the trip. Now we do it in five hours and are irritated if the plane is delayed on the runway for 20 minutes.

Dr. D. James Kennedy, founder of Evangelism Explosion, called gratitude “the Christian’s magic wand”:  “If life seems boring and dull, use the magic wand of thanksgiving. You will discover that it transforms the commonplace into the sacred by the presence of God…”

He continues:  “As soon as we begin to give thanks, we realize, suddenly, that God is there, wherever we are, and that all of a sudden we find ourselves in an enchanted land, in a divine land, a land that is fraught with the fragrance of our Redeemer. Our spiritual eyes are opened and our hearts are filled, because in the hour of thankfulness, faith is full and everything is changed. Suddenly, the commonplace wears a halo and the ordinary has a nimbus around it.”1

May we see how God’s commonplace gifts are emblematic of His kindness and mercy toward us. May our spiritual eyes and the eyes of those around us better understand God’s grace because of our attitude of gratitude.

As always, thank you for your faithful and generous support of EE.

1 D. James Kennedy, “The Christian’s Magic Wand,” November 25, 1982 sermon at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, FL