“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” -Revelation 7:12 ESV

That’s quite a list of ascription of praise to our God.

• Blessing
• Glory
• Wisdom
• Thanksgiving
• Honor
• Power
• Might

But honestly, which of those could be left out without you noticing? I’d wager it would be thanksgiving. That’s strangely odd to say that as folks who struggle with self-centeredness. After all, of all the words on the list, thanksgiving has the strongest element of reciprocity.

I can claim God as worthy of honor but not have it affect my life.  I can call him powerful and mighty but not think he is necessarily powerful or mighty on my behalf. I can bless him but leave out things pertaining to me. I can glorify him but not use a first person pronoun. He would still be wise if I didn’t exist. 

But thanksgiving is a word, a theological concept, altogether different. Thanksgiving demands two things.

1. Someone to thank
2. Something to be thankful for

It is a word that demands a relationship between us and God. And for that reason, I’m glad it made the list.  

God has established, rebuilt, and restored a relationship with us by momentarily breaking his relationship with his Son on the cross (Mk 15:34).  God has secured death-free living for us by allowing his son to pass through death into resurrection (1 Cor 15). God has poured out every spiritual blessing on us so that we lack for nothing(Eph 1:3; 2 Pt 1:3). Let that word hang a little more in your ear… nothing.

Gospel-motivated, Cross-founded thanksgiving is at the heart of who we are as Christians. It is the great reciprocal ascription of praise that God has given us.  

So as you gather for meals and fellowship on Thursday don’t miss the opportunity to join the reciprocal praise of heaven saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever!”

This Sunday

I know many of you will be traveling this Sunday along with most of our music team.  Enjoy your travels, your feasting, and your God. If you are in town, I can’t wait to see you on Sunday as we gather as God’s thankful people.

We’ll dive into 2 Timothy 1:8-12 as we cap off our Gospel Series with one last look at the gospel implications for our lives as Christians.