We praise what we value
What we praise is a litmus test of what we value. It happens without us even thinking about it. In our natural self we do not want to praise the Lord, but at salvation the Lord begins to change us. He gives us a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26) that desires to praise Him as our Creator and Redeemer. C. S. Lewis calls it the good infection in his book Mere Christianity.
New patterns of thinking thanks for all that He is and does begin to take shape in our minds. God initiates a process of out-shaping us from the world’s mindset and in-shaping us to become like His Son (Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 3:18). After a time, we actually begin to direct our praise naturally toward God. Why? He has reshaped our thinking to know how intricately He is involved with every detail of our lives, and He has reconfigured our hearts to value how precious and trustworthy He is.
Connection of Expressing and Completing
“I had noticed…
that men spontaneously praise whatever they value, so they spontaneously urge us to join them in praising it…I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.” C.S. Lewis
It is not enough to just think the thanks or praise, it must be expressed to be completed. Like a joy that must be shared. Like a secret that wants to be told. There are various methods of expressing thanks:
- writing it down
- singing it to the Lord
- orally saying the words to God Himself
- sharing His works with someone else
Somehow it needs to be expressed for the completion of the thanks. Maybe that’s why we call it “giving” thanks – the thought has to come out into the open. 
The gratitude is unfinished if it finds its end only in your thoughts.
There is a contagious element here as well. When we express our thanks, we encourage others to also praise. Talk about good peer pressure! 🙂
Aiding the Sanctification Process
Just like human growth when a new baby grows into a young child and eventually into a full grown adult, so it is with spiritual growth. What do you “look like” spiritually? How would you appear if we could change your spiritual life into physical human form? Would you be an infant? Would you be emaciated? Would you be obese from high spiritual intake and no exercise? Or would you be mature in stature and strong in your spiritual walk, looking more and more like Jesus?
In Ephesians 5:19-20 we get a glimpse of what a mature Spirit-filled person is like.
Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Why not start now expressing your gratitude to God for who He is? Not only are you fulfilling what God created you to do, but your obedience actually enhances His recreation of you. As you discover things to think thanks about, express those things to God and to others. You can write them down or say them out loud.
The brain responds to what you choose to think about. You will forge and establish a neuro-brain thought pattern that not only pleases the Creator, but will be beneficial for you physically and spiritually.
So, go ahead! Take a little advice from C. S. Lewis. Complete your enjoyment! Think thanks, and then give thanks!
The unthankful heart discovers no mercies; but the thankful heart will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings.” — Henry Ward Beecher
Th(i)nkful (adj) describing people who choose to download grace/strength from the Lord to think thanks about every circumstance in their life and to express that thanks orally or in written form.
I love it. I know that is God’s grace. People are praying for us and we feel it. Thank you if you are one of them. 🙂 I am surprised at how much I love it here. The years we spent up in Johannesburg are coming in handy as there are familiar things mixed in with the new. So th(i)nkful!
how Lancelot willingly volunteered to run the gauntlet? There were blades, spikes, swords, bludgeons, paddles, and heavy balls whirling about him at different speeds, and from different directions.
around 10 pm and we arrive in Amanzimtoti, South Africa, on Thursday morning, Lord willing. These past few months we have been so busy preparing and packing … and today we go.
Giving flowers at the end of a concert, or a conductor pointing his finger to orchestra members in gratitude, are gestures of someone giving credit to another. Speeches given by award recipients typically deflect praise and thanks to parents and friends. Christian coaches and quarterbacks throw their thanks to teammates and to Jesus Christ.
The second category is known as Development – helping the needy by working with them to improve their general living conditions, developing their skills, giving them a hand up and not a hand out. Think of Israel leaving part of the harvest for widows like Ruth in Deuteronomy 24:19-22.
Asset-Based Community Development – is helping a struggling community improve itself by sitting down with residents and inquiring about what they already have.😊 When Moses resisted getting involved with God’s plan, God asked him, “What is that in your hand?” (Exodus 4:2). That’s where we begin. We look at what is, not at what is missing.
This approach promotes a philosophy of thankfulness and a “can do” spirit. In other words, a community looks to its own members to identify what assets are already present around them.
This is a visual of what happens when we constantly complain.
Jane Gibb, a dear co-worker of mine, shared with me how she was struggling with some stress at a particular time. She decided to engage thinking thanks about that situation, and as she cultivated the thought pattern of looking for things to give thanks for in her situation and started writing things down, the stress lessened. She benefited. She was putting God’s Word into practice by renewing her mind.
Truth has no elements or shades of unreality. Something that is true is not a lie. It has fidelity (loyalty) to the standard. It is true to the original.
Where I grew up in Norway, snowstorms at times would bring “whiteout” conditions where you couldn’t see a few feet in front of you. If a building near town was 20-50 yards away, a whiteout was dangerous. Some people got lost and their frozen bodies weren’t found until spring. So the town put up a rope fence tying the buildings together.
let me instead be th(i)nkful for my car, for my ability to drive to the shop, push a cart, have the funds, make decisions from often hundreds of choices … and so on. As the familiar meme says, “what if we had tomorrow only what we thanked God for today?”
Whether you imagine Iguazu Falls in South America, Victoria Falls in Zambia, Niagara Falls in New York, or the Laguna hot springs in the Philippines, each gives us a strong image of abounding water that can’t be stopped. Strong, smooth, steady, and striking in their beauty, the abounding flow cannot be held back and rushes over the edge.
The word translated “abounding” from the Greek unfortunately has no English equivalent. It means “to super-abound, to be excessive, to go way beyond.”
th(i)nkful 