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Give Thanks, by Pastor Kevin Feder

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Give Thanks

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Psalm 103:1-5

Psalm 103 is a psalm of thanksgiving. The reason why giving thanks and being thankful is so important is because it might be the single most distinctive characteristic of being a Christian. This is most plausible when we look at the way the atheist is described in Romans 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him. Thus, if the refusal to give thanks to God marks the atheist, giving thanks ought to mark the believer.
And for good reason. The believer, afterall, has good reason to give thanks to God. The believer has good reason and many reasons to give thanks to God. This seems simple enough, doesn’t it? Believers should be thankful. Not too much resistance there. Yet, most believers would admit that grumbling, complaining, worry, anger, doubt, anxiety, bitterness, apathy, to name a few, creep in and choke out thankfulness. What should a believer do to be more characterized by thankfulness and less like this list? Here are two responses:
First, being thankful means giving thanks, which means it is up to you to be thankful. You are not a passive recipient of thankfulness. Rather, you are active in pursuing it by faith. If you are a Christian, you have the Holy Spirit empowering you to walk by faith, you have God’s Word to speak truth to you, and you have God’s Son that gave his life for you so that you can be a child of God. You have everything you need to be a thankful person.
Second, being thankful means you must preach the truth to your soul. In Psalm 103 David preaches to his soul (Bless the LORD, O my soul). He doesn’t wait until he feels thankful. By faith, he presses the truth into his mind. Living by faith and being thankful is primarily not a feeling but the will to live in accordance with what is true. David models what this looks like. He preaches to his own heart. He rouses his emotions to the memory of God’s work. He refuses to be controlled by what he feels, he insists on living according to God’s love.

That we would be thankful people, Pastor Kevin




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