Please don’t ever thank God out of a sense of obligation. Many years ago I knew an old schoolteacher who disciplined her students when they were disobedient by sending them to cut and peel a fresh switch, slim and supple and stripped of beauty. Then she whipped them on their hands. After that she forced them to say “Thank you” to her for the discipline, and if they didn’t thank her they’d get more.

I think perhaps she meant well – she said that she wanted them to realize that she was trying to help them – but her methods were cruel, and clumsy. This is not how the Lord works; God will not punish us when we refuse to give thanks. There have been studies that show people are generally happier and more resilient when they practice gratitude, so it’s a good thing to do. And if we try we can almost always find something to be thankful for, though we must be sincere.

If you need to, pray about being thankful and ask the good Lord for help doing that. But let’s never say “thanks” out of fear; let’s not fake gratitude, or force it. After all, loving truth is what sets us free.     

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