For although they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools.  Romans 1:21,22

God owns everything. That’s a simple theological truth. There is nothing we can give Him that He doesn’t already own. We can’t increase or add to Him. Part of the inescapable truth of the Gospel is that we are entirely and unavoidably recipients. We even “love Him because He first loved us” (1 Jn 4:19). “He is not served by human hands as though he needed anything” (Acts 17:25).

That’s just basic truth. But it raises an obvious question: if God owns all (1 Cor 15:28), how can we (who are nothing and have nothing by comparison) please him?

And that is the wisdom of giving thanks. God is so magnificent and so awesome, we have to respond somehow, but how can we respond in a meaningful way to Someone who’s got it all? We can’t add to his glory, but we can honor it. When you come down to it, there’s only one real answer to the question: What can I do for God? —To live for His praise and glory.

God says, “Those who offer thanksgiving honor me” (Ps 50:23). Gratitude honors God. Gratitude is the response of our sincere choice to acknowledge and bask in His glory and His grace. Gratitude is the bold acceptance of a free gift and the heartfelt declaration that we cherish the One who gives it.

The people Paul speaks about in today’s verse were proud and wise in their own eyes (i.e. fools), so they could not give thanks even if they wanted to. Conversely, giving thanks to God and honoring Him displays the humility of our grateful and receptive hearts.

Giving thanks is a demonstration of wisdom, because in thanking Him, He increases and we shrink in our own eyes…and the result is that we live differently.

It is really amazing how much wisdom and humility grow within us as we worship and give thanks to God.