Pastor Josh Leadership

Gratitude

johannes-klingebiel-vWj-NLIp6uo-unsplash
Originally written November/21/2016

1 Thessalonians 5:18  Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

As I kid, I found Thanksgiving to be boring, yet as an adult it has become my favorite holiday. I love the fact that it is not over commercialized and its meaning secure. We take part of one of the oldest traditions known to man as we gather around a meal and…..talk. Thanksgiving is centered around, well, giving thanks. At least it should be. Back home, my dad always asks us to go around the table and share what we are grateful for. It can be an emotional time. You always want to have the right answer and sometimes that is the only motivation. I’m learning to not just have the right answer but to dig deep and ponder what I am truly grateful for. I love that my dad taught me this important lesson and I am now passing it along to my children.

Gratitude, it’s the posture of those that consider themselves the recipients of something undeserved. It’s God’s will, not because it does something for Him, but because of what it does in us. It’s reflective in nature and causes us to take inventory of all that is good in our lives. To count our blessings. It’s not for the entitled. Griping, complaining, criticizing does quit the opposite. It is poison to our hearts because it is rooted in the tension of what we do not have. Greed. 

Gratitude, it’s the posture of those that consider themselves the recipients of something undeserved.


Dr. David Soper, in
God Is Inescapable suggests that basically the difference between a prison and a monastery is just the difference between griping and gratitude. Imprisoned criminals spend every waking moment griping; self-imprisoned saints spend every waking moment offering thanks. When a criminal becomes a saint, a prison may become a monastery; when a saint gives up gratitude, a monastery may become a prison.

I encourage you, to take 30 seconds right now and think about something you are grateful for and tell Jesus that……

Now I encourage you to do that everyday and begin to watch the peace of God unfold in your life.

Colossians 3:12-17...As God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.