A Grateful Heart
Thanksgiving
Jonathan McLeod
II Corinthians 9:6-15
You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God (v. 11).
SCRIPTURE READING
In 2 Corinthians 8-9, the apostle Paul appeals to the Corinthians to give generously to help needy Christians in Jerusalem.
[Read 2 Corinthians 9:6-15.]
GRATITUDE LIST
Have you noticed that we’re good at noticing the bad things that happen to us, but we often take the good things for granted? (We often say, ‘‘That’s just my luck!’’ thinking we have an unusual amount of bad luck.) A good practice (not just on Thanksgiving Day) is to make a list of the good things in our lives (i.e., a gratitude list). When we focus on the good things, our perspectives will change.
GOD IS A GIVER
The song ‘‘Count Your Blessings’’ says, ‘‘Count your many blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.’’ But it shouldn’t surprise us. Why should we have grateful hearts?
We should have grateful hearts because God has given to us an INEXPRESSIBLE GIFT.
Paul concludes his section on giving by praising God for the gift he has given us: ‘‘Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!’’ (v. 15). Human words are unable to express how amazing God’s gift is. And what is God’s ‘‘inexpressible gift’’? It is Jesus (and salvation through his death).
‘‘God loves a cheerful giver’’ (v. 7) because God is a giver. ‘‘Every good and every perfect gift is from above’’ (James 1:17). ‘‘God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son’’ (John 3:16). God ‘‘did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all’’ (Rom. 8:32). People who see God as a taker don’t have grateful hearts.
THE BENEFITS OF A GRATEFUL HEART
Being grateful has many benefits. In this passage, we see two benefits of having a grateful heart.
1. If we have GRATEFUL hearts, we will have GENEROUS hearts.
Paul writes, ‘‘You will be enriched in every way to b ...
Thanksgiving
Jonathan McLeod
II Corinthians 9:6-15
You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God (v. 11).
SCRIPTURE READING
In 2 Corinthians 8-9, the apostle Paul appeals to the Corinthians to give generously to help needy Christians in Jerusalem.
[Read 2 Corinthians 9:6-15.]
GRATITUDE LIST
Have you noticed that we’re good at noticing the bad things that happen to us, but we often take the good things for granted? (We often say, ‘‘That’s just my luck!’’ thinking we have an unusual amount of bad luck.) A good practice (not just on Thanksgiving Day) is to make a list of the good things in our lives (i.e., a gratitude list). When we focus on the good things, our perspectives will change.
GOD IS A GIVER
The song ‘‘Count Your Blessings’’ says, ‘‘Count your many blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.’’ But it shouldn’t surprise us. Why should we have grateful hearts?
We should have grateful hearts because God has given to us an INEXPRESSIBLE GIFT.
Paul concludes his section on giving by praising God for the gift he has given us: ‘‘Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!’’ (v. 15). Human words are unable to express how amazing God’s gift is. And what is God’s ‘‘inexpressible gift’’? It is Jesus (and salvation through his death).
‘‘God loves a cheerful giver’’ (v. 7) because God is a giver. ‘‘Every good and every perfect gift is from above’’ (James 1:17). ‘‘God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son’’ (John 3:16). God ‘‘did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all’’ (Rom. 8:32). People who see God as a taker don’t have grateful hearts.
THE BENEFITS OF A GRATEFUL HEART
Being grateful has many benefits. In this passage, we see two benefits of having a grateful heart.
1. If we have GRATEFUL hearts, we will have GENEROUS hearts.
Paul writes, ‘‘You will be enriched in every way to b ...
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