Gratitude

I am grateful for the rain over the past few days. I am grateful for the beautiful country that I live in. I am grateful to be surrounded by wonderful, caring people. The list goes on and on. You might be thinking at this point “yes, yes, all that is good, but…” and right there the enemy has gotten you to take your eyes off of God and His provision.

The Oxford dictionary defines gratitude as “the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness”. If you spend your time being thankful, focusing on what you DO have, then you are NOT spending your time complaining about the things that you don’t have. Also notice that gratitude has an active aspect to it – showing appreciation and returning kindness.

Wikipedia defines gratitude as “the proper, fitting or called-for response to benefits or beneficence from a benefactor”. So lets see what the Bible says who our benefactor is.

James 1:17 (WEBBE): ¹⁷Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning shadow.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from God – not some of them, some of the time – every single one! All the things that we can so easily think we accomplished all on our own are actually from God too! And so it certainly is fitting that we be grateful towards God for all the many blessings that have already received!

Tomas Merton adds that all these good gifts show us God’s love:

“To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything He has given us – and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him.
Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder and to praise of the goodness of God. For the grateful person knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience. And that is what makes all the difference.”
― Thomas Merton (from goodreads)

What a beautiful description of what a life of gratitude is like!

Lets look at what the Bible says about thanksgiving. Paul and Timothy says in their letter to the Philippians that when we ask God for the things that we need, it should be with thanksgiving.

Philippians 4:4-7 (WEBBE): ⁴Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I will say, “Rejoice!” ⁵Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. ⁶In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.

And in their letter to the Colossians, they say that we should walk with God, abounding in thanksgiving.

Colossians 2:6-7 (WEBBE): ⁶As therefore you received Christ Jesus, the Lord, walk in him, ⁷rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, even as you were taught, abounding in it in thanksgiving.

Paul, Silvanus and Timothy adds in their first letter to the Thessalonians that giving thanks is God’s will for us.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (WEBBE): ¹⁶Always rejoice. ¹⁷Pray without ceasing. ¹⁸In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus towards you.

In his first letter to Timothy, Paul says that God “richly provides us with everything to enjoy”. God wants us to enjoy the things that He gives us, and being grateful is the expression of that! And Paul also gives good advice to people that are rich:

1 Timothy 6:17-19 (WEBBE): ¹⁷Charge those who are rich in this present world that they not be arrogant, nor have their hope set on the uncertainty of riches, but on the living God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy; ¹⁸that they do good, that they be rich in good works, that they be ready to distribute, willing to share; ¹⁹laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold of eternal life.

I challenge you this week to spend a few minutes every day thanking God for the good things in life, showing your appreciation. Be specific – if you look for Blessings, you will find them! And whenever you realise that you are about to complain about something, think instead of something to be grateful for!