There is much talk about gratitude around this time of year and rightly so. Our country’s leaders designated a time for gratitude years ago and although there is more emphasis on football and turkey than gratitude, at least there is a pause, and the word “thanksgiving” is still in our vocabulary. I believe, however, there are many people who have found the benefits of an attitude of gratitude and give more than mere lip service to the thanksgiving season.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 (ESV) — 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
That is quite the command! Give thanks in all circumstances. Why? Because that is God’s will for you. That sounds simple enough to understand but takes great grace to carry it out. In fact, to be faithful to that command would mean you seek God’s help to be grateful. In other words, you need the gift of gratitude to be grateful.
1 Corinthians 4:7 (ESV) — 7 For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?
In 2005, I was dying from an infection in my lungs that would not respond to treatment. My doctor sent me to National Jewish Medical Center in Denver, CO which is the top respiratory hospital in the world. My wife and I prayed for a spirit of gratitude as we faced this most devastating time and God blessed us abundantly. It was amazing to see God work in us and through us to bless others as my health decreased even to the point of a major lung collapse. Nevertheless, what we experienced both in God granting us a spirit of gratitude and in our expressing great gratitude to all the medical personnel that did anything. Every day, although trying, was filled with great gratitude and the result was a very positive atmosphere both in us but also in everyone who came near. Gratitude is infectious! God saw us through that experience for which we are grateful, of course, but also blessed us in that experience to find the power of gratitude – His power working in us.
Philippians 4:6–7 (ESV) — 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
In order to be effective in our prayer life, we need to be thankful in our prayer life. Stop and think about it, if all we are seeing are needs and not seeing answers to prayer in the little and big things then we are missing out, so God places thanksgiving as a command. Not only is thanksgiving a vital part of prayer but also a key component of worship.
Psalm 100:4 (ESV) — 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!
Besides the obvious spiritual benefits to gratitude, there are great advantages that are missed when we are not grateful.
Psalm 33:1 (ESV) — 1 Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright.
Some of the benefits include mental and emotional uplift, physical health including heart health, calmness in the midst of anxiety, and that is to say nothing of the way it pays dividends in relationships.
So why aren’t we grateful? Ingratitude is evidence of a downward spiral away from God so it is only by God’s grace that we can recover and see things in a different light, namely the vast way God has provided.
Romans 1:20–23 (ESV) — 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 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 foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
It’s time to wake up and be grateful. If you are struggling with being thankful, confess that spirit of ingratitude and ask God to open your eyes to His work around you and His provision for you, then begin by making a point to think of things for which you should be grateful, express that gratitude to God, and bless people with whom you come in contact with showers of thanksgiving. You’ll find that God’s gift of gratitude is actually a gift of a blessed day.
Godspeed,
Bob Brubaker
