GRATITUDE IS THE KEY TO GREATNESS    July 2, 2006

Read Psalm 92  A Song for the Sabbath Day

Key verses: Psalm 92:1-2
It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night .

Gratitude is a very important and powerful thing. It is the key to true greatness. Yet so few people have it. God is grateful to you for every good and kind thought which you express toward Him and others.

When we are in Richmond, I always look in their newspaper for the Rev. A.P. Bailey’s column, entitled Our Daily Bread. In this column he wrote: While eating at a restaurant near Randolph - Macon College in Ashland, I saw a man and a woman begin their meal by holding hands and saying a prayer.

Before we left, I told them I was grateful for their thankful spirit before the meal. The man said simply, “The Lord has been good to us. We have our health.”

That simple act of gratitude shaped our weekend. Later we joined 100 people celebrating the 1942 class reunion of Betty Lou’s high school in Petersburg. What a wonderful group.

When the weekend was over my mind turned again and again to that man and woman at the restaurant, taking a moment to thank the Lord for the food provided and good health. Two thankful people put a rainbow over our wonderful trip. It is a good thing to give thanks to the Lord (Psalm 92.1).

"Day By Day Through The Psalms" by C. William Nichols, speaks of the spirit of Psalm 92, which is identified in the heading as “A Song for the Sabbath Day”. Radiant joy emanates from the phrases and denotes the kind of spirit that the people of God felt when the weekly Sabbath observance came along. In those days, when everyone worked hard to the point of exhaustion , the Sabbath Day came as a blessed relief. The families gathered together in their homes and ate special foods and experienced the joy of being with one another and with God.

Through the centuries, The Lord’s Day - Sunday- has continued to be an island of blessing for those who let that day bring them closer to Heaven. Christians look forward to Sunday, not only because its not a normal work day; but because of the joys they experience at worship.

When we allow the Lord’s Day to become just another day of business, we cheat ourselves of one of the gifts God has given us for the enrichment of life. If Sunday is not the joyous experience for you that it is supposed to be, then you’re missing a special blessing. What you do on the Lord’s Day should evoke from your grateful heart the spirit that says, “If this is Sunday, it must be Heaven!”

PRAYER:  Dear God we are so grateful we can come to you in our prayers of thanks for your love and for your forgiveness of our sins. Also thank you for Sundays, good food, and good health. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Luther McCollum