Genuine Gratitude

[David] refused to drink it. Instead, he poured it out as an offering to the LORD. “The LORD forbid that I should drink this!” he exclaimed. “This water is as precious as the blood of these men who risked their lives to bring it to me.”

2 Samuel 23:16-17

What would our world look like without genuine gratitude and sacrifice? When I start to complain, I need a shot of gratitude instead of gripe-itude. Sometimes I think I am going to pop in gratefulness to God for all He has done for me and how He has used others to give so generously to our family.

Do you ever feel at a loss about how to thank people whom God has placed in your life, knowing that you can never begin to convey the fullness of your thankful heart? You feel so much gratitude, but the problem is, you don’t know how to express it adequately. You know that nothing you have accomplished has happened because of you alone.

God uses the body of Christ to fulfill His purposes on earth. God has specific jobs for each of us to do. Nothing happens in our own strength, and certainly our growth in gratitude does not happen apart from God’s power in us.

Indulge me for a minute. Just for this devotion, I want to adapt the words from 2 Samuel 23:9 (KJV) describing David’s “mighty” men to describe the “mighty sweet men and women” God has placed in my life. When David was thirsty, three of his mighty men broke through the Philistine lines and drew water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem (where David was born) and carried it back to their leader. “But he [David] refused to drink it. Instead, he poured it out as an offering to the LORD” (2 Samuel 23:16). What I long to do is pour out my little cracked teacup filled with sugar cubes as an offering to the Lord to show my gratitude too.

We can all show genuine gratitude to God by purposely pouring out everything. You and I need to rest in the knowledge that God sees our gratefulness. It does not matter if anyone notices what we do to give back. When we offer ourselves wholeheartedly to God, our gratitude blesses Him, us, and others around us.

Serving others sacrificially is one way to pour out gratitude to our gracious God.