Greetings everyone and thanks for joining me for this edition of our Sunday School preview. I hope you experienced a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends on last Thursday. This Sunday’s lesson is entitled “A Heart Filled With Gratitude” and is found in 1 Chronicles 16.
Today’s lesson picks up with the next chapter from last Sunday’s lesson where David brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. Once in Jerusalem, David has the Ark placed in the text that he had set up for it. He then had burnt sacrifices and peace offerings made before God.
After the sacrifices and offerings, He blessed the people in the name of the Lord. Then he gave a gift of bread, meat and wine to every man and women in Israel. He gave charge to the Levites to maintain the worship and upkeep of the Ark. Then David began to compose and have composed Psalms praising and thanking the Lord.
These acts of David were acts of gratitude that spring forth from a heart of thanksgiving. David was so thankful for what God had done for him and Israel, that he began to do things that expressed his appreciation for what God had done. This is what distinguishes thankfulness from gratitude.
While both are feelings that express an appreciation for something that is positive, gratitude goes beyond the feeling and takes the form of actions that reflect what has happened to be so thankful about. We see this in the actions of David in all he did to honor God, to bless the people, to encourage the people to worship and praise God and to write and inspire psalms about the goodness, glory and power of God.
It’s not enough for us today to be thankful because thankfulness ends with a feeling. Gratitude turns thankfulness into actions that reflect back on why we are thankful. We all should be thankful that we have escaped death and condemnation and thankful that we live in the day and time we live. Thankful for the comforts of life we enjoy every day that are too numerous to mention.
We all should be thankful for the portion of health and strength we have knowing that whatever our condition is it could be much worst. Thankful that we have the knowledge of salvation in Jesus Christ and the freedom to express our faith and worship God without the threat of imprisonment or death.
The question becomes how to we express our thankfulness or gratitude for all we have to be thankful for? The answer lies in who or what we believe is responsible for what we have to be thankful about and just how thankful and appreciative we are.
Like David, Christians believe God and Christ are responsible for everything that is good in their lives. And like David, when we think about all that God and Christ has done for us, it’s not enough to be thankful. But we must express our thankfulness or gratitude by living a life that reflects all we have to be appreciative for in the way we relate to and help others for all God has done, is doing and shall do for us.
This is gratitude that comes from being thankful. Well, I hope you will attend SS this coming Sunday and share your thoughts with your class. If you have any comments or questions, be sure to place them in the comment section of this preview. So, until next time remember to fear God and keep His commandments.
Pastor Jordan
