In the United States, Thanksgiving is near the end of November. This holiday is meant to be a time to reflect on the many reasons we have to be thankful. Of course, as Christians, we are to be thankful at all times, yet this holiday is a good reminder for us and society as a whole.
A few years ago, I published a series of articles leading up to Thanksgiving about the reasons we have to be thankful.* It is important that we recognize the many things for which we have to be thankful. However, it is just as important that we allow this sense of gratitude to impact our behavior.
So in this short series, we will consider how we conduct ourselves with gratitude. In this first article, we will discuss how we serve God with gratitude. Notice what the Hebrew writer said:
“Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe” (Hebrews 12:28).
Before we can offer “acceptable service” to God, we first must learn to “show gratitude” for the blessings He gives us. Let us consider some thoughts on this.
Serving God Is a Necessity
Jesus told His apostles, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18). Because He possesses “all authority,” we are obligated to do what He has commanded. This is why He told His apostles, as they carried out the Great Commission, to teach the disciples to “observe all that [He] commanded” (Matthew 28:20). Learning of Christ and doing His will is a necessary part of being a disciple. On another occasion, Jesus asked the question, “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46). If we wish to claim Jesus as “Lord,” we must do what He has said.
Furthermore, we show love for God by keeping His commandments. Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15). The apostle John wrote, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3). He said the Lord’s commandments were “not burdensome” because His instructions are reasonable and doable.
The Hebrew writer explained that Jesus is “to all those who obey Him the source [author, KJV] of eternal salvation” (Hebrews 5:9). If we “do not obey the gospel,” we have no hope (2 Thessalonians 1:8). Therefore, serving God is an absolute necessity.
How Gratitude Affects This
We need to understand our responsibility to obey the Lord and that the instructions we are to follow are found in His word. But what we do with this understanding will depend on our sense of gratitude toward God.
- We are to be thankful for God’s word that shows us how to please Him. His word is “a lamp to [our] feet and a light to [our] path” (Psalm 119:105). Because He has revealed His word to us, we can know how to please Him. With the Scriptures, we are “equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Nothing is missing that we need to know to please Him. He has given us “everything pertaining to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). This recognition will lead us to devote time and energy to reading and studying His word.
- We should be grateful for all the trouble and hardship we avoid by following His will. The wise man noted, “The way of the treacherous [transgressors, KJV] is hard” (Proverbs 13:15). Sin often has negative consequences, and we avoid those by following the instructions God has given in His word. Understanding this will cause us to see that God’s instructions were given for our good.
- We need to recognize that we are “unworthy slaves” even as we obey the Lord (Luke 17:10). Though we serve God, we do not “earn” His favor. We become “obedient from the heart” as we respond to the gospel and become “slaves of righteousness” (Romans 6:17-18). However, salvation is still a “free gift” we receive from Him (Romans 6:23). Realizing this will enable us to serve God with a sense of humility rather than entitlement.
What Happens When We Lack Gratitude
What if we go through the motions of serving God, performing the proper actions, but lack gratitude? What will that look like?
- We will start to resent God’s instructions as being too restrictive. Satan convinced Eve of this when he tempted her in the garden. He focused on the one restriction God gave – that they not eat “from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:17) – and ignored the abundant blessings from God and all of the trees from which they were permitted to eat (Genesis 3:1-3). This caused Eve to question God for giving the instruction (Genesis 3:4-5), just as it does for us. We foolishly start to think that we somehow know better than God and then resent the instructions and prohibitions that He gave us.
- We begin to envy the wicked who live as they please. The psalmist warned about doing this: “Do not fret because of evildoers, be not envious toward wrongdoers. For they will wither quickly like the grass and fade like the green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness” (Psalm 37:1-3). It is easy to look at how the wicked prosper now and ignore the judgment that awaits. The wise man explained, “Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and may lengthen his life, still I know that it will be well for those who fear God, who fear Him openly” (Ecclesiastes 8:12). Yet when we stop being grateful for the salvation offered by the Lord, we start thinking about all that we are missing out on by not indulging in the sinful pleasures of the flesh.
- We will become arrogant over how “great” we are for our righteousness. This was what happened to the Pharisees who “trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt” (Luke 18:9). Rather than being thankful to God for the salvation He offers, we act as though God should be thankful to us for our good works. Yet God does not “need” our service (cf. Acts 17:24-25). As we noticed earlier, even if we perfectly obey His will, we are still “unworthy slaves” who are simply doing “that which we ought to [do]” (Luke 17:10).
Serving God is important, but it is all in vain without a sense of gratitude.
Conclusion
We have a responsibility to serve God, but we need “gratitude” for our service to be accepted (Hebrews 12:28). Let us be thankful for His word rather than resenting its instructions. Instead of being envious of the wicked, let us appreciate that we can avoid unnecessary hardships by following His will. And let us be grateful for the privilege we have to serve Him rather than boasting in our righteousness.
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* Check out this series: Thankful
