Psalm 100

1 Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!
2 Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy.
3 Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation.

Gratitude is a quality that is generally in short supply.

If I've learned anything in my years of ministry its that the more you give people, the more they want. It explains why most of this world is mad at God for one reason or another. He just hasn't given enough.

And you think I'm kidding. After He gave His only son to die as a sacrifice for our sin, I've heard countless people chastise God for being so self-centered and arrogant that He would demand our worship. So...they'll soak up the blessings but not give an ounce of themselves to God in return.

We live in the most affluent nation on earth and we think God owes us more. I'm concerned that this derelict attitude is creeping into the church. Why? Because our church today is an unsatisfied church. We want bigger buildings. We want better youth programs. We want better music. We want it closer to our house. And we walk across the streeet to the other church if we don't get it. We don't think we have enough. And if we don't have enough...whose fault is it?

God's...I guess.

I work with born again Christians every day...only a few demonstrate any visible level of genuine joy. Yet, our psalmist says "Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth! Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy...For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation." I Can't say I've seen a lot of that attitude around. Oh, for sure, I see it in church on Sunday. We can "rock and roll" with the best of them. I'm talking about Monday.

Is God the God of Monday as well?

I'm confident a lot of this malaise among believers comes from a failure to pay attention. David says "Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture." I think we've simply forgotten who we are...and "whose" we are. We think it's about us when it's all about God. Now, if that's the truth, how is it we got distracted? We weren't paying attention and got so caught up in the blessings we forgot we hadn't earned them. In fact, we just want more.

That's called "ingratitude." And you know what? we owe God more than that.

I might be talking to you today. I don't know...but you do. Gratitude is unmistakable. By it's very nature gratitude dispels selfishness and frustration. Have you thought about yourself today more than you thought about God? That's a problem.

Let's start over...let's "enter his gates with thanksgiving and go into his courts with praise. Let's give thanks to him and praise his name."

Live boldly out there today...