To God be the glory
by Colleen Fitzpatrick
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Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God (2 Corinthians 4:15).
I received an email today: ‘Thanks again for your … Just wanted to let you know that I love your piece; what a great idea!’
I was thrilled to receive the acknowledgement. It came out of the blue and was totally unexpected. It made me feel valued and appreciated.
This made me think about giving thanks. It seems we are robbed of the opportunity to give thanks with so many of our daily transactions undertaken online. The art of writing a thank you note is vanishing – except for our next-door neighbour, who faithfully pops a card or postcard into our letterbox when etiquette requires.
I grew up in a home where daily devotions were the norm, read from The Book (‘Can you get The Book?’, my dad used to say as tea came to an end). Meals were bracketed with prayers: ‘Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest and let these gifts to us be blessed’ before and ‘O give thanks to the Lord for he is good and his mercy endures forever’ at the end.
These daily rituals did not survive into the 21st century in my family, which makes me feel sad. In fact, I’m sure we are not the only ones to have lost this practice.
Today’s verse encourages us to give thanks and glorify God. When praying, we can use the mnemonic ACTS to structure our prayers, including adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication.
Adoration – some of our favourite hymns How great thou art, Amazing grace and To God be the glory offer some wonderful examples of this.
Confession – this can include reflection on where we have strayed from leading a godly life. This can help us become aware of who we may have hurt. We then can consider not just asking God for forgiveness but also what we need to do to heal relationships.
Thanksgiving – there is so much that we can give thanks for, not least for the grace God extends to all of us, as this verse states. So, let’s give thanks whenever and wherever we can, particularly to our loving God whose grace is there for you, me and anyone who dares to claim it.
Supplication – God is happy to hear our prayers and wants us to bring our requests through them. God is generous in answering those prayers – how very blessed we are!
Gracious God, thank you for the gift of faith that lets us believe we will be with you in eternal life. Thank you for your gift of grace, and we ask that you give us thankful hearts so that we can live our lives to your glory and to the good of our family and community. Amen.
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