Thankfulness is a key to heavenly living on earth. It’s easy
to get used to the good parts of our lives. But we grow in thankfulness when we
take nothing good for granted. I often think of the kingdom of heaven as the
place where we walk in wonder. We will never get used to the goodness of the kingdom
of God fully come.
We dishonor God when we take goodness for granted. We worship
him when we recognize his hand in our health, our finances, and our relationships.
We worship him as we thank him for every good thing: from the neighbor who
becomes a friend, to the trees that make oxygen, to the messy goodness of
democracy. We especially worship when we thank him for the unexpected gifts of
difficult days.
We long for Jesus to fully establish that wonder-filled
kingdom on earth. But we more fully engage in his rule and reign when we
practice conscious thankfulness now. We feed our wonder when we acknowledge his
good gifts, even if they come as a result of bad days. They are truly wonderful
gifts—he owes us nothing. James says, in 1:17: Every good and perfect
gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights. All the
good we experience comes from the only source of goodness.
Father, we need a spirit of thankfulness. May we take
nothing good for granted.