Gratitude comes from the Latin root word – gratus – meaning “pleasing, thankful”. It differs from indebtedness in that gratitude is not feeling you have to pay anything back: you are just thankful.
Gratitude is paramount for our spiritual growth and to our eternal destiny.
Gratitude, The Secret To True Happiness
So why do we so easily lose gratitude and forget about it?
To understand this we have to understand ourselves better. In Romans 1:21 Paul share his conviction about this. He states that people “neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him”. The downward spiral of the world into degradation and perversion started with lack of thankfulness. It is often hard for us to see ourselves as ungrateful because we have a superficial understanding of our own sinfulness.
But in order for us to really grasp the concept of gratitude we have to see ourselves as we are, and see Jesus as he is. As we grow in this we will grow in gratitude for his plan for our salvation and his sacrifice for us.
Gratitude Is Shaped By Our Picture Of God
If we do not understand his loving character, but only thinks of him as a hard man, we will act like the man with one talent (Matt 25:14-30) and hold back. If we see God as someone who has done nothing for us, we will act like the older brother in the parable of the lost son (Luke 15:25-31).
Gratitude acknowledges the character of God. It is more than positive thinking and reaches to a much deeper level because positive thinking usually is connected to getting what we want, becoming successful in a worldly sense. Positive thinking is based on selfish means to selfish ends. A grateful heart, on the other hand, acknowledges that God in his goodness has provided for us everything we need physically and spiritually and it recognises that we are totally dependent on him for everything.
All that we are and all that we have comes from God.
The very first temptation in the history of mankind was to be ungrateful. Despite the fact that God had provided Adam and Eve beyond what they needed, Eve lost her gratitude and questioned the goodness of God. They both ended up discouraged and defeated.
Luke 17:11-19 tell the story of the ten lepers who sought healing by Jesus. They were outcasts in society, alienated because of their terrible disease. Finding themselves shunned by everyone, they had no one to turn to for support or help for their physical and emotional distress. Their circumstances were anything but easy. They came to Jesus for help and as they followed his commands and showed themselves to the priests and thus got healed, only one of them came back to give thanks to Jesus!
Considering their situation you would have thought they all would have returned, but the parable just shows us how easy it is to take things for granted and to forget where we have come from.
Gratitude Changes Everything
It is vital for our spiritual health. It is an inner resource and with it comes contentment because we focus our thoughts on the blessings God already has given us. When we are grateful and thereby content, we have come to the realisation that God’s provision for our needs and his grace in our circumstances is enough (2 Cor 12:9). When we begin to understand who God really is, we can be moved by gratefulness for his amazing grace.
And this amazing grace will, in turn, move us to continually grow (2 Peter 1:1-10).
Gratefulness is not about getting what we want, because in a self-focused life there is little thankfulness. When we feel entitled in our lives we often respond to blessings with little or no thankfulness and to challenges without much grace. When we see God through his perspective, we can be joyful, content and thankful in all of our circumstances in life.
This is not to say that we can’t find life hard at times; life is hard, both for you and for me, but it does mean that we can focus on God and his goodness rather than the issues we as human beings are all faced with every day.
Gratitude also promotes humility in us. The apostle Paul always gave thanks to God for the spiritual progress of the churches and never took credit for.
Contentment Is A Decision
Life’s circumstances are not necessarily the determining factor in happiness. Just go to poor countries and watch children play. Jesus wanted us to be like children in our hearts to make it to heaven. Being childlike means deciding life is good in spite of bad things happening. We also know we can be content because God cares for us. 1 Peter 5:7 tells us to cast all our anxiety on God, because he cares for us. This is a command! When we understand how God not only wants a relationship with us but also have our best interests at heart, we can be sure to feel safe.
This should produce thankfulness which in turn leads to contentment and happiness. Being thankful in challenging circumstances does not mean that God doesn’t acknowledge your pain. It does, however, mean that his grace will strengthen you and carry you through if you continue to walk in him.
We can respond to challenging situations with gratitude. This can be seen as an opportunity for spiritual growth, for deepening our relationship with God and to focus on what really matters. Some situations might take us to the point where we feel hard done by, overlooked, disappointed and hurt.
But remembering what God has done for us, his promises and his sufficient grace that covers all our failings takes our eyes off ourselves and back onto Him.
How Do I Grow In Being Grateful?
The Bible gives us several examples of thankfulness and giving thanks to God. It teaches us that we must cultivate a habit of always giving thanks for everything (Eph 5:20). Habits aren’t easily formed but takes determination and decisiveness.
One of the many ways to do this is to write a gratitude journal. When a goal seems too distant, just remember you only need to take one step at a time.
Every day you could write down 3 things you are grateful for. It doesn’t matter if it’s big or small, but the consistency in your approach will pay off.
You will find that the more you give thanks, the more things there is to be thankful for. We are all ungrateful by nature and we must change our heart by the renewal of our mind (Rom 12:2), one day at a time.
Memorise and meditate on the scripture you find helpful in this area. The Bible contains many scriptures on thankfulness and examples of people who showed thankfulness to others (like the sole leper). Whatever scriptures work for you, focus on what you learn about their heart and yours.
Do it daily. If we expect to be renewed we must take time out regularly to focus on what we have to be grateful for.
Have a daily gratitude list should you forget! You can pray through an already made list of things (made by you) that you are grateful for on a daily basis. Psalm 103 is an example of a “list” you could use.
Here are a few examples of what it could look like:
- Psalm 103:3 – our sins are forgiven
- Psalm 103:4 – God has redeemed us and saved us. We have received Gods grace
- Psalm 103:6 – God gives us justice when we are oppressed
- Psalm 103:11 – God is merciful toward his children
It Does Not Come Naturally
Clearly it has to be taught because the focus is on God, not ourselves. But with gratitude and thankfulness comes godliness and contentment. And with these things comes true happiness because our hearts are anchored in Gods love and not in worldliness. Gratitude unlocks the fulfilment of life and will eventually lead us to heaven
If you would like to learn more about God and gratitude, please reach out to us.
We have several bible studies we can help you with should you be interested.
