Daily Devotions
The Difference Between Being Thankful & Giving Thanks
Reading for December 4th: 2 Corinthians 1-4
For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
2 Corinthians 4:15
Did you know that there are only two verses in the whole Bible which command us to be grateful or thankful? (Colossians 3:15; Hebrews 12:28)
But you may be thinking, "What about 1 Thessalonians 5:18 which says we should give thanks always for all things?" That's right, we are commanded to give thanks. But there is a difference between being thankful and giving thanks. Being thankful is something you are, thanksgiving is something you give.
That may only seem to be a slight difference between thankfulness and thanksgiving, but when you stop and think about it there is a big difference. If you were to have asked those nine lepers who did not return to give thanks to Jesus if they were thankful for being cleansed of leprosy, what do you think they would have said? That they weren't thankful? Of course they were THANKFUL they no longer had leprosy. The problem is that they didn't return to give THANKS.
God is concerned about the giving of thanks, not just being thankful. He doesn't want our thanks because he needs it, but because we need it. It's good for us to say out loud what we feel in our hearts. Test this in your life today. Spend at least a half an hour today giving thanks for specific blessings with your lips, and then see if you're not more thankful for those same blessings in your heart.
Father, we are thankful for all of your blessings and we want to express in words all of the specific ways that you have blessed us. Help us to do this not only today, but every day.
