I’m working on this thing called “What Next?” which will try to help new converts come to grips with the life-changing decision they made by putting on Jesus. There are thirteen chapters (the scripturally mandated amount for Bible class teachers) and each one answers a question that a new Christian might ask. In lieu of a “devo” today, since it’s 9:45 and I just woke up…, and because you’re probably iced in and can’t get out, I’m sharing a sample from “What Next?”

This is the first draft of the chapter entitled…

“How do I say ‘thanks’ to God?”

Ordinarily, a person might not think twice about saying “thank you.” By that I mean, it should be so ingrained in us as decent people that, whenever someone does anything even remotely kind to us, we are compelled to say “thanks.” Is it possible that the one being to whom we ought to be the most grateful is the one we think to say “thanks” to the least?

I did a quick skim through the Gospel record, examining every miracle which Jesus did in order to help someone else directly. In other words, I didn’t bother with something like His walking on water or when He gave Simon more fish than his net could handle. Instead, I looked at healing miracles. In all, there are thirty-one occasions wherein Jesus performed a miracle that specifically helped someone in need, whether they were hungry, injured, sick, or even dead.

In all those times, do you know how many instances feature the one who received help going out of his way to say “thank you” to God?

Once.

Keep in mind, you can find numerous examples of God’s people in the Old Testament expressing gratitude in poetic forms. You can also find times in the New Testament when the Lord’s people “gave thanks” for their meal. What you don’t find, but for one time, are examples of people being directly blessed by Jesus and, upon receiving the blessing, saying “thank you” to the Miracle Man.

That doesn’t mean those people did not say thank you in some way. It could be that their gratitude was expressed by not recorded by the writers. Also, that’s not to say those people weren’t thankful. But, still, I find it interesting that only once is it ever recorded where a person said “thank you” to Jesus. That one instance is the only example of a “thank you” to God until you get to the epistles: Paul, for example, says some variation of “thanks be to God” in almost every book he wrote, sometimes multiple times per book.

But that’s not really what we think of when we talk about “saying thank you.” When we hear those words we mean expressing gratitude in the immediate aftermath of an act of kindness. In that case, the pickings in the New Testament are woefully slim.

So here’s a chapter that, based on what you’ve just read, might seem like it will have no Biblical source material to draw from. On the contrary, while we don’t more than a single example of someone saying “thank you,” we do have examples of people demonstrating their thankfulness in one way or another.

John records a miracle in which Jesus healed the son of a nobleman of Capernaum, whose son was sick to the point of death. The Lord told the man to return to his son, assuring him that his child would live. Sure enough, when the nobleman returned home, he found his son safe and sound. In response, John writes that the nobleman believed on the Lord “with all his house” (John 4:46-53). How did this person express his gratitude to Jesus? He did so by leading his family, as the head of his house, into faith and reliance on Jesus.

Another example is found in Matthew’s writing, which tells of two blind men who begged the Lord for healing (Matthew 9:27-31). In response, Jesus touched them and gave them back their sigh. After they were healed, the Lord asked them not to proclaim what He had done. Why not? We can only speculate, but perhaps it has something to do with what He said in His sermon on the mount, about not being showy with your righteous acts (Matthew 6:1-4). On the other hand, maybe He had things to do and didn’t want to be swarmed by people at that time.

Either way, as soon as the healed men left Jesus, the first thing they did was run and tell everybody what He had done for them. Obviously, this is disobedience, but we can at least understand why they did it: They were so full of joy and thankfulness they just wanted everyone to know what the Lord had done for them. It may be disobedient, but it’s grateful disobedience, nonetheless.

Speaking of blind men, there is another example of Jesus meeting and healing blind men: Matthew mentions people shouting at Him from a crowd, begging for mercy. When Jesus asked what they wanted from Him, they did not mince words; they asked to have their eyes opened. Jesus then touched their eyes and made them free to see. In response, though they did not say “thank you,” they did drop everything and follow Him (Matthew 20:30-34). Their actions expressed their gratitude, as did the actions of the previous blind men, and the nobleman whose son was healed.

Still, that’s only three examples out of thirty or so miracles we have recorded. Only three times do we find people demonstrating gratitude. Maybe it doesn’t matter. Maybe Jesus didn’t care whether or not the people He healed said thank you. Could that be? I don’t think so.

Remember, there is one time recorded when someone went back to tell Jesus thank you. The Lord had just healed ten lepers. Nine of them went on their merry way; one of them returned to the Master, fell down at Jesus’ feet, and thanked Him (Luke 17:12-17).

Jesus’ response to this one thankful leper is telling: He said “Ten were cleansed…where are the nine?” Jesus cares about whether or not we are thankful for what He does for us.

On another occasion, Jesus fed five thousand men (plus women and children). The next day they all went looking for Him. When they found Him, the Lord rebuked them, saying they were not interested in His teaching, only in being fed. They were not genuinely thankful as a sincere-hearted person would be when blessed by God. Had they been, they would have done as the nobleman did: They would have believed on Him. Had they been thankful, they would have done as the blind men did: They would have followed Him as Disciples. Had they been thankful, they would have done as the one leper did: They would have given thanks to God.

With all that said, we return to the original question of the chapter. We must say thank you to God. He has saved us, despite our supreme unworthiness. We owe Him infinite gratitude and how fortunate are we that His salvation will provide us with infinite heavenly opportunities to be thankful.

In the meantime, to answer the question at the top of the chapter: How do we say “thank you” to God? As said, it’s commonplace for us to say thank you to regular people when they do something nice to us. Thanking God for something as monumental as sending Jesus to die for our sins feels almost too big for a simple “thank you.”

What can we do?

The words of Paul provide a wonderful template for daily Christian living. It’s one of the great blessings of his many epistles; they are overflowing with many practical statements we can apply to our lives to better our walk with Christ. To that end, the Apostle wrote some things to the Colossian church that we can use to answer this question…

SAY IT:

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful (Colossians 3:15).

 SING IT:

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to the Lord (Colossians 3:16).

SHOW IT:

And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him (Colossians 3:17).

The above verses occur, in order, one after the other, but I broke them up into individual readings because each verse offers a different answer to the question of the chapter.

How do we say thank you to God? To start with, we just “say” thank you. As Paul says in Colossians 3:15: “be ye thankful.” That’s it. Don’t overthink it. Don’t be so overwhelmed by the magnitude of the gift that you feel a simple “thank you” is inadequate. Maybe if all you ever did was say “thanks” and your life never changed, then it would probably be an inadequate response, but this is just the first step.

There is power in words. More than just thinking thankful thoughts, we must vocalize our gratitude. Whether that means telling others how thankful we are, as the blind men did (despite being asked not to by the Lord), or whispering our thanks to the Lord in prayer, just saying the words is enough to remind us what was done for us.

If history, as recorded in the Bible, tells us anything, it is that people are tremendously adept at forgetting about God and His blessings. On the other hand, talking about them is a surefire way to ensure we do not forget, nor take them for granted.

Paul described in great detail all the ways the Gentile world fell into godlessness, and he put a cap on it by saying “neither were they thankful (Romans 1:21). Once the people lost their sense of gratitude, they took God’s blessings for granted. What followed by their serving creation over Creator.

We are saved. We should be thankful for it. Paul tells us in Colossians 3 to say so: Be ye thankful.

Not only should we say it but we should sing it, too. That’s what Paul says: “Sing with thankfulness in your hearts” (Colossians 3:16). Some translations say to sing with “grace” but most use the word “gratitude” or “thanksgiving.” The idea is the same: Our singing should be a gift we give back to God as a thank you for the salvation He gave us.

Do our hymns compare to His salvation? Not at all, but we can’t give a gift that’s comparable to salvation, and God doesn’t ask us to try: He asks us (in this verse) to sing with grateful hearts. So, even if it’s the least I can do, I will do it, because it’s the least I can do.

What do my hymns sound like? Are they lethargic? Do I mumble through them in disinterest? Do I treat the singing portion of worship as a time to talk to the person next to me in the pew, check my phone, or go get a drink of water? Is singing an optional thing we get to decline to participate in if we don’t like the sound of our voice?

Many Christians sit silently during the singing of hymns, staring at the words on the page or on the screen but uttering not a sound. Why? If you ask them they will say “I don’t know the song” or “I don’t like to sing.”

Setting aside the fact that singing is a command from God that we are obligated to obey (and therefore isn’t dependent on whether or not we like doing it), Paul specifically frames the action as an act of gratitude. If a Christian doesn’t know the song, that Christian should learn the song. Is that too much to ask? I think some would balk at that idea, but those who do are selfish.

Christians that would rather refuse to give God a gift than give Him one they feel isn’t “good enough” are Christians too concerned with how their gifts might look (or sound) to others than they are with simply being thankful to God for His incredible gift.

So you have a terrible voice. Fine. Who cares? Are you worshipping the bratty teenager sitting in front of you or are you worshipping God? Who died for your soul? Sing to Him; He doesn’t care what it sounds like. If you don’t know the song, then muddle along as best you can.

It’s funny how a person can listen to a new song from their favorite artist, not know any of the words, and sing along anyway: The words are almost always completely wrong, but who cares: If you want to sing, you’ll give it your all and eventually learn it as you go. If we can do that with pop music, we can do that with hymns. And if we care enough to learn the words to a pop song and we don’t care enough to do the same with our hymns we can hardly be called grateful people.

You want to be thankful? You want to say thank you to God? Say it. Sing it. Show it…

Paul says for our words and deeds to be in the name of Jesus (by His authority), as we “give thanks to the Father.” In other words, not only should our every action reflect our life in Christ but, according to the Apostle, everything we do should be able to be interpreted as an act of gratitude to God.

When I give food to a beggar on the street it’s not because I want to appear altruistic to anyone watching; it’s because I was once spiritually destitute, and God gave me living water to drink. I’m thankful for that, so helping a person with their worldly needs is a way to express my gratitude to God for what He did for me.

When I visit someone who is sick it’s not because I want to score brownie points. It’s because I was once dying and Jesus left Heaven to visit me, teach me, and die for me. When I visit others it’s a way to emulate what my Master did for me. I’m thankful He came for me, so I go to others.

Listen to the things Jesus focuses on when describing the separation of sheep from goats (Matthew 25): The people who will depart from Him aren’t singled out as murderers, rapists, thieves, or lewd people. The people He singles out are those who wouldn’t feed the hungry or visit the needy. It’s the people who won’t do as He did, who won’t follow His example, that are called out and condemned.

The Lord showed us how much He loved us through all the things He did for us. What better way to say thank you than to show Him how grateful we are for the new life He gave us? And what better way to do that, than to live that new life as He lived His own?

You’re a Christian now. You’re not condemned; you’re saved. Aren’t you thankful? Of course you are.

Say it. Sing it. Show it.

 

(end of chapter)

~ Matthew