Gratitude
“Wouldn’t we all love to live a life characterized by joy and thankfulness?”
This time of year always makes me think of the normal fall accouterments: a good cup of coffee (and for pumpkin lovers, that is pumpkin spice), spiced cider, beautiful fall colors, backyard bonfires, and Thanksgiving dinner with family and friends.
There’s a song that’s been out for a while that plays on the Christian radio stations that takes me a bit deeper in my fall thinking:
All my words fall short.
I’ve got nothing new.
How could I express all my gratitude?
Brandon Lake called the song Gratitude.
Not sure about you, but I think I don’t spend enough time thinking about the ways I am grateful to God for all he has given me. I should start every day with gratitude for my salvation and go from there. Instead, like too many of us, many days I spend more time thinking about what I don’t have, rather than what I do. That seems to be a systemic problem in the Western world. In reality, when I sit in that place of “not enough” I am really telling God that he is not enough. Because we live a life of never enough and we keep striving for more, we stop trusting that what God has given us is enough.
Howard Hughes, who used to be the richest man in the world, was once asked how much money would be enough for him. His answer was, “Just one more dollar.” In other words, there would never be enough. So, this constant seeking for more of what the world has to offer always takes us one more step away from knowing and experiencing the true goodness of God—away from true joy in our lives.
Throughout Scripture, we are given examples of what it looks like to have a grateful heart.
I will thank the Lord because he is just;
I will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.
Psalm 7:17
Come, let us sing to the Lord!
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come to him with thanksgiving.
Let us sing psalms of praise to him.
For the Lord is a great God,
a great King above all gods.He holds in his hands the depths of the earth
and the mightiest mountains.
The sea belongs to him, for he made it.
His hands formed the dry land, too.
Come, let us worship and bow down.
Let us kneel before the Lord our maker,
for he is our God.
We are the people he watches over,
the flock under his care.
If only you would listen to his voice today
Psalm 95:1-7
Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!
Worship the Lord with gladness.
Come before him, singing with joy.
Acknowledge that the Lord is God!
He made us, and we are his.
We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
go into his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good.
His unfailing love continues forever,
and his faithfulness continues to each generation.
Psalm 100:1-5
Sing out your thanks to the Lord;
sing praises to our God with a harp.
He covers the heavens with clouds,
provides rain for the earth,
and makes the grass grow in mountain pastures.
He gives food to the wild animals
and feeds the young ravens when they cry.
Psalm 147:7-9
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6-7
And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.
Colossians 2:6-7
Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.
Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.
Colossians 3:12-17
I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart;
I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done.
I will be filled with joy because of you.
I will sing praises to your name, O Most High.
Psalm 9:1-2
Wouldn’t we all love to live a life characterized by joy and thankfulness?
I want to take a few minutes and look at what Jesus taught us about gratitude. In Luke 22:19, Jesus says, “He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, ’This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’”
He gave thanks. The word used is eucharisteo. The Greek root of that word is charis, which means grace, and there is a derivative of the Greek word chara, which means joy.
Jesus was celebrating for the last time before his crucifixion. He was having a meal with the guys who would be charged with carrying on the legacy of the gospel. He knew what was coming, yet he responded with eucharisteo—thanksgiving and joy!
Albert Schweitzer, in his book Reverence for Life, says, “The greatest thing is to give thanks for everything, He who has learned this knows what it is to live… He has penetrated the whole mystery of life: giving thanks for everything.”
We live in a land of ungratefulness, so we must fight against culture, and against human nature, to live the eucharistic life. The grateful life. The life of enough. The life that gives thanks for the ability to die to self daily, and take up our own crosses. That’s a tall order. Psalm 50:23 says, “He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God.”
Ann Voskamp wrote a book some years ago called One Thousand Gifts. She had experienced some severe trauma in her life, and was crying out to God to help her heal what she calls “soul holes”. She read Philippians 4:11-12, where she saw Paul’s heart:
Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.
God brought her to a place of understanding the need to live a life of gratitude. She says,
“There it is—the secret to living joy in every situation the full life of eucharisteo. Twice Paul whispers it: ‘I have learned…’ Learned. I would have to learn eucharisteo—learn it to live fully. Learn it like I know my skin, my face, the words on the end of my tongue. Like I know my own name. Learn how to be thankful—whether empty or full.”
Wow! That’s where we all are. We must learn to be thankful because it does not come naturally for most of us. And we know this kind of living will take time.
So, how do we do that? We start today. Start small, but start. Just like when you start a new job or trip. Talking about it won’t get anything accomplished. So we start. Carmelita Boyce and I led a group of ladies through the Ann Voskamp book one summer. We challenged them to keep a gratitude journal for the summer and fall, seeking to thank God for 1,000 gifts that God has given.
I teach college students, and in one of my classes, I have them keep a gratitude journal, making at least five entries per day. Each night before I sleep, I thank God for his presence in my life during the day. This keeps my heart in the right place and helps me to be aware of how God is active throughout my day.
There is no specific formula for developing a heart of gratitude. The main thing is that you start! Today! Right now, think about one or two things you are grateful for. Take out your phone and make a notes page for gratitude. And add to that as you go through your day and God brings things to your mind.
I leave you with the chorus for the song Gratitude:
So I throw up my hands and praise you again and again
‘Cause all that I have is a Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
And I know it’s not much, but I’ve nothing else for a king
Except for a heart singing Hallelujah, Hallelujah!
Have a blessed Thanksgiving season!
