On a recent hike, I began practicing thankfulness. I started by thanking God for everything I could think of. I began with basics—a healthy body enabling me to hike; eyes to see the beauty of nature; ears to hear the birds; a nose to smell the scents of spring; and a sound mind to process all the beauty my senses were perceiving. Then I moved on beyond the physical things. Ah, in the hustle of life, how easy it is to forget how much my born-again soul relishes life in Christ! He has made me alive to His glorious purpose; to the security of eternally belonging to His family; to the sheer joy and satisfaction of His presence; to gratitude for His patience and mercy towards me, the great comfort in my salvation; and, to the powerful working and fruit of the Holy Spirit. As my heart became more and more thankful, all those empty spaces of doubt, fear, and uncertainty in my life were filled with great joy and peace. Then a thought hit me:
There is no thankfulness in hell because there is none of God’s goodness in that horrible place.
There are none of the sights and sounds God creates. There is no laughter or sunshine. There are no wonderful emotions like joy, peace, and love because He is the author of all these good things. My friend, when we live on this earth with unthankful hearts, we create a preview of hell in our lives! Thankfulness is critical to the health of our soul and our body!
The key to developing a thankful heart lies within our obedience to the first and greatest commandment: Loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind.
What is amazing is that a truly thankful heart is inevitable when we make Jesus the LORD and Master of our lives. His attitudes and His mind are the center of all we think, say, and do. Then, there is no room in our heart for darkness. Thankfulness is the great remedy for much of the sin that makes us anxious. We are NOT eaten up with pride when we’re thankful to God for all He has done. We do NOT feel inadequate when we are consistently thanking God for being our strength. We do NOT fall into loneliness when we are thankful for the presence of God. We are NOT enslaved by making money or attaining career success when we are thankful because we’ve placed God in control of our lives.
God works a seemingly magical transformation in those who have a thankful heart.
When we are thankful to God, He grows the fruit of His Spirit within us instead of the hellish works of the flesh. The Book of Galatians gives us a great preview of the difference between the experiences of hell and Heaven:
Now the works of the flesh…are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like….
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…
Galatians 5:19-23
When we live without God as our center, we live like He does not exist, and we create hell for ourselves. Even many born again Christians (myself included) do this when we think, speak, and act in ways that deny God His rightful Lordship of our lives. But oh, my friends, when we place God on His rightful throne in our life—He changes everything. He produces a profound sense of thankfulness within us and we are taken from darkness and torture into light and joy!
