GOOD IDEA Why we need to be thankful

On a daily basis, several things can go wrong. Our natural tendency is to be drawn down by these disappointments like a lead weight.

Furthermore, complaining is in vogue. Christians are not immune from disappointment and discouragement, and often our response to these setbacks that can derail our faith in Christ.

How then can we not succumb to the knocks of life?

Positive thinking is insufficient. Try as we may, we cannot bubblewrap ourselves and our families from difficulty.

God has something much stronger and more enduring. Psalm 81 begins with a call to praise, and later in the psalm God describes himself as ‘The Lord your God, who rescued you out of Egypt.’

In a similar way for us, every day is an opportunity for thanksgiving to the God who has rescued our lives from destruction.

In a world bent on complaining, and our own hearts prone to wander, it is no surprise that we have gospel amnesia. How easily we forget who God is and what he has done.

Does thanksgiving mean we forget all of life’s setbacks and pretend they don’t exist?

Not at all. What a daily practice of thanksgiving for our salvation does is to put the ‘headlines’ of the gospel in their proper place, and the ‘classifieds’ of our circumstances in theirs.

What are your ‘ headlines’ and what are your ‘classifieds’ as you go about your day?

If Christ has come into our lives, every day is a day of thanksgiving, come what may. If we do not yet know Christ, may do all we can to seek after Him. Tendai Chitsike, Every Nation Church