GIVING THANKS by Hannah E. Sawyer

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 17, 1876

GIVING THANKS.

By Hannah E. Sawyer

In Eph. 5:20, we learn that we are to give “thanks always for all things unto God.” There are very few who can say they have attained unto the Christian character that fulfills this precept of the apostle’s.

Another like admonition is, “Pray without ceasing.” We long to attain to such a holy state that our hearts will be constantly filled with pure aspirations. The Creator bestows rich blessings upon his people, and sends holy angels to protect them from the evils and dangers which surround them; they are therefore under constant obligation to express gratitude to him as their benefactor. This is but reasonable. God intended that man should do this when he created him.

We cannot bow down upon the knees, or express our gratitude orally, every time we receive a good gift from the hands of God; for we are receiving such favors constantly. We do not think that “giving thanks always” requires that every time one receives a special benefit he should go through a devotional form. With a zeal in this direction a person could easily run into a pharisaical spirit. There are times, however, when it seems that open expressions of gratitude are required; and the one who enters into the spirit, as well as the form of open thanksgiving must consequently be benefited by it. This is necessary, that we may reflect the principles of true religion.

I have learned that in the eastern part of Siberia there are tribes, adherents to the Greek Church, who are quite formal in their religious ceremonies. When one of them receives a gift from the hand of a friend, or a special blessing through the favor of God, he stops and makes several crosses. This is an example of remarkable zeal, but Christians may have calm, meditative, and heartfelt gratitude beaming forth in every expression of daily life.

The influence we exert is not an unimportant matter. If we bear the cross daily, somebody will know it. The Christian is commanded to let his light shine. Do we not always find this true, that the exercise of the religious faculties is just as necessary as that of the arm or the hand? We tone up the physical system by exercise; we improve the moral by practice. At proper times, then, it would seem to be our duty to express thanks formally. We may express thankfulness in our very looks, and also in the simplest acts we perform for the benefit of our fellow-men.

Unless the spirit of “giving thanks” unto God enters into our very being, we are soon on the back-ground. Selfishness in some of its forms creeps in, and love is driven out.

If there is one soul on earth that needs pity more than others it is that one who forgets to render thanks unto God for his daily benefits. Language fails to describe the condition of a thankless soul. There are some who seem never to thank God. It is not in their power. They may occasionally use a form of words, but there is no hungering for a higher life in them.

Among those who never give thanks, and whom the word of God declares to have no promise of an inheritance with the children of light, are drunkards, gluttons, Sabbath-breakers, misers, etc. God is not in their thoughts, and it would be very unreasonable to expect such would ever give thanks.

The human mind is so constituted that the more the selfish faculties are exercised at the expense of the moral, the weaker the moral faculties become, until their action finally ceases. Giving thanks unto God continually, or having a disposition to do so, keeps us spiritually alive. This is the happy state of mind which the child of God must possess. He is lost without it.

“Oh, for a heart to thank my God! A heart from sin set free! That ‘prayeth alway’—ever would Assert this liberty.”

HANNAH E. SAWYER.