Why We Need to Thank the Lord

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Thanking the Lord reminds us that we are not self-sufficient. It is an acknowledgement that all life comes from Him. The more convinced we are that the Lord is the source of all that is good and true, the easier it is for us to come before the Lord with a humble heart and receive the blessings He wants to give us.

These blessings are multiplied still further through our commitment to showing our thanks to the Lord by living according to His will. This is how we give Him the glory that is due to His name!

Discussion Ideas

Does the Lord require us to thank Him?

  • The Lord demands humility, worship, and thanksgiving for a person’s own sake. For if people possess humility, they are able to accept good from the Lord (see Arcana Coelestia 5957). Why is being humble and thankful to the Lord useful for a person?
  • True confession of the heart involves acknowledging that everything good comes from the Lord (Arcana Coelestia 3880:7). Is it challenging to acknowledge this sometimes?

What does it mean to give glory to the Lord?

  • To give glory to God means to worship the Lord from His Divine truth by a life according to it…. The meaning of “giving glory to Him,” is to live according to the Divine truth, that is, according to His commandments in the Word (Apocalypse Explained 874).
  • It is easy to say thank you to the Lord with our lips. Saying the blessing at mealtime or using the Lord’s prayer at bedtime is one way to thank Him. But it is much harder to thank the Lord by making the best use of the life He has given us, using our talents to help others and doing our best to live according to the commandments given in the Word. Yet this is how we truly show our thanks and give Him glory!
  • What are some specific ways you can give glory to the Lord?

When we humble ourselves before the Lord, then we can worship Him with our minds and hearts and be prepared to receive Him ever more fully into our lives.

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