LET US COME WITH THANKSGIVING:
The solution to the “self-esteem” issue for teenagers? It took me a long time to grasp this concept, but our problem with self-esteem is not our self-image as much as it is thankfulness to God for creating us for who we are. We too often have poor self-image because we compare ourselves with someone else and we don’t look at ourselves with thankfulness because God created each one of us in His own image, in His own likeness and He gave us the talents or skills – “gifts” if you will, if we understand the word in a non-miraculous sense – and He put us in His holy temple, the church, where He wants us.
We need more thanksgiving in the church and I am sure you need more thanksgiving in your life. I believe that will help cure the self-esteem problem teenagers have.
This Hebrew word for “thanksgiving” is used 33 times in the OT. It is used 13 times in the book of Psalms.
One thing our singing does for us is focus on being thankful to God. “I will praise the name of God with song and magnify Him with thanksgiving” (Psalm 69:30, a psalm written by David). Also, Psalm 110:4, a psalm titled “A Psalm for Thanksgiving:” “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name.”
In all the psalms, the expression “sing to the Lord” or “sing to Him” is used a dozen times. David is called the “sweet psalmist of Israel” in 2 Samuel 23:1. If PTP had existed in Israel back in those days, David would have been assigned to speak on this topic.
We should praise God more in order to have a “good” life so we can be more thankful to Him.
Look at these verses: Matthew 9:8, Jesus had healed the paralyzed man and the crowds were “awestruck [afraid] and glorified God, who had given such authority to men.” What did they do when they “glorified God”? They: 1) gave Him thanksgiving; 2) gave Him credit; 3) acknowledged His power.
Later in Matthew (15:31), when the crowd saw the “mute speaking, the crippled restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing, they glorified the God of Israel.” They gave Him thanksgiving; they gave Him credit for the work He was doing through Jesus Christ; they acknowledge the miraculous power of God was at work in Jesus Christ.
Luke likes to use the word “glorifying” to describe the response of men to the miracles performed by Jesus. Luke 5:25, the man who had been paralyzed went home “glorifying God.” The people, as we saw at Matthew 9:8, did the same, saying “We have seen remarkable things today.” In Luke 7:16, when Jesus raised the dead son of the widow from Nain, the people were gripped with fear and “they began glorifying God, saying, ‘A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited His people!” In other words, they saw the presence of God in the person of Jesus Christ.
That’s what happens when you praise God more in your life – you see the blessings God has given you in Jesus Christ: “When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed. When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost, count your many blessings, name them one by one. And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.” Praising God more will make you more thankful to God and if there is one sin, besides pride, that the Bible condemns more than any other it is unthankfulness. Envy and jealousy are the opposite of thankfulness.
When Jesus healed a woman in Luke 13:13 who had a disease which kept her from standing straight, once she was healed, she “began glorifying God.” When the leper was healed in Luke 17:15, he turned back to Jesus, “glorifying God with a loud voice.” Finally, the blind man healed in Luke 18:43 regained his sight at the blessing from Jesus and he began “glorifying God.” And then the people were influenced to do the same: “when all the people saw it, they gave praise to God.”
Paul Holland
