by Doy Moyer<\/p>\n
When someone says, “I’m thankful,” to whom is this person thankful? Thankfulness is an expression of gratitude or appreciation, but to make sense, it must be directed to one who has given or made the circumstances possible in which that expression finds meaning. Just saying, “I’m thankful,” into the air is pointless. Gratitude is meaningful when we recognize that one has given grace and feel indebtedness for it.<\/p>\n
Christians, of all people, should feel that sense of gratitude and, therefore, be thankful to God for what He has given. “And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God<\/em>” (Colossians 3:15-16).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Doy Moyer When someone says, “I’m thankful,” to whom is this person thankful? Thankfulness is an expression of gratitude or appreciation, but to make sense, it must be directed to one who has given or made the circumstances possible in which that expression finds meaning. Just saying, “I’m thankful,” into the air is pointless.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1395,704],"class_list":["post-80332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-gratitude","tag-thankfulness"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":56078,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/always-grateful\/","url_meta":{"origin":80332,"position":0},"title":"Always Grateful","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 23, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer How we think about God and our level of gratitude are connected. If we think about God respectfully and remember what He has done and continues to do, we will be grateful. How can we not be? Paul makes this connection in Romans 1:21-22. In a context\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/grateful-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":61480,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/notes-on-gratitude\/","url_meta":{"origin":80332,"position":1},"title":"Notes on Gratitude","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 19, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"II Chronicles 32:24-26 - Hezekiah gave no benefit in return for being healed Psalm 30:4 - Sing and give thanks Psalm 34:1-2 - Thankfulness spreads to others Psalm 50:14 - Offer God thanksgiving Psalm 50:23 - Offering thanksgiving honors God Psalm 68:19 - God loads us down with blessings Psalm\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Notes","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/notes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26882,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/with-gratitude-in-our-hearts\/","url_meta":{"origin":80332,"position":2},"title":"With Gratitude in Our Hearts","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 6, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: I Thessalonians 5:12-24 Suggested song: Count Your Blessings \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Ten Lepers - Luke 17:11-19 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m sure all ten were happy to have been healed. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Perhaps in their joy nine rushed off to tell their loved ones, but only one returned to say \u201cthank you.\u201d\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29154,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jamaica-patois-wisdom-being-grateful\/","url_meta":{"origin":80332,"position":3},"title":"Jamaica Patois Wisdom – Being Grateful","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant The Jamaican Patois dialect is colorful, unique, and humorous. It is my desire to share some of the philosophy shown in this mix of colorful phrases that are witty as well as thought-provoking. I hope the readers both profit and enjoy. In my quarter-century plus of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/jamaica.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":40684,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/in-everything-give-thanks\/","url_meta":{"origin":80332,"position":4},"title":"In Everything Give Thanks","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 15, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Paul says, \"this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you\" (I Thessalonians 5:18). This is what God wants. He doesn't want us to spend our time complaining and griping. Such a negative disposition! His will is that we spend our time \"giving thanks\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/shy.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":80714,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/thankfulness-and-gratitude\/","url_meta":{"origin":80332,"position":5},"title":"Thankfulness and Gratitude","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 1, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Warfel Download Audio","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80332\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}