The Practice Of Thanking God Without Gratitude

"The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught." - Isaiah 29:13 (referenced by Jesus in Matthew 15, Mark 7) 

My wife and I make a habit to pray before we eat, no matter where we are. After hearing a sermon on praise and thankfulness this past Sunday, it made me think about the sincerity of my prayers before each meal. In some ways those prayers have become a formality. Something I need to get out of the way so I can eat my food.  As I write this, I wonder how can that be? How did it happen? But then I recall the last time we prayed and I was less intent on focusing on Jehovah Jireh (God the Provider) and more on television and my stomach.  Please don't get pious on me.  I am sharing this because I believe it is common pitfall. 

"No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man" - 1 Corinthians 10:13

We all struggle with the same things. The discipline of prayer requires intentionality to keep our hearts focused on God. Praying before eating a meal should not be like flipping a spiritual light switch on then flipping it back off when we have "gotten the prayer out of the way." I am reminded of a song written by Don Moen - "Give Thanks"

"Give thanks with a grateful heart. Give thanks to the Holy One. Give thanks because He’s given Jesus Christ, His Son

And now let the weak say, 'I am strong'. Let the poor say, 'I am rich because of what the Lord has done for us'"

Does that sound redundant to you? "Give thanks with a grateful heart." My point (and perhaps his) is that it is possible to give thanks with an "ungrateful" heart. You might be in a public place and people seeing you pray might think that you are being a witness when what you are doing is being religious for the sake of impressing those around you having no real focus on the One in whose name you are praying. King David understood this when he wrote - 

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer." - Psalm 19:14

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory.

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone