Spread the Blessing!
Oh, how beautiful it is to live with an attitude of gratitude. If we can maintain such a spirit, it will transform our whole perspective on life. We would then be thankful to God for each and every blessing. We would be grateful to God for life itself -–for the world around us -–for nature and beauty -– for the love of family and friends -–for health and well-being -–for faith and the meaning of life it gives us; and for the opportunity to experience the Kingdom of God right here and now! Oh, I tell you, the power of a grateful heart is a blessing!
But the sad truth is that most of us aren’t grateful people. When it comes to having a spirit of gratefulness, we fall short. We are much better at grumbling and complaining than we are at giving thanks. Despite all of our blessings, sometimes we’re anything but thankful! We’re often like the 9 lepers in [Luke 17, NIV]. There, we read of ten lepers who stood at a distance and cried out to Jesus as He was traveling along the border of Samaria and Galilee. The diseased ridden lepers cried out, “Jesus, Master have pity on us.” And Jesus heard the lepers and said to them promptly, Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. And in [verses 17-18] Jesus says to this one leper who returned, “Were not all ten cleansed?” he said. “Where are the other nine?
The Heart of God Regarding Gratitude
Jesus’ emotional response to the ingratitude of the nine lepers gives us a glimpse into the heart of God. Jesus was disappointed that only one person cared enough to express his gratitude. The lepers came to Jesus with desperate longing; he cured them and nine never came back to give thanks. Unfortunately, so often we are just like the nine lepers, once we get what we want, we never come back. We take God’s goodness for granted. We receive great blessings yet often we don’t give God our gratitude even though [Psalm 103:2, NKJV] says, “Bless the Lord, O my soul and forget not all his blessings.”
We Take “It” For Granted
Here in America, each of us, compared to the rest of the world, are rich beyond our wildest dreams. We travel by airplane, drive nice cars, live in air-conditioned homes, have all the electronics, etc. Plus, we eat in nice restaurants and worship the Lord in comfortable buildings. We each live a life of incredible ease and luxury, and one would think that all these blessings would make us the most grateful people on earth. But often, what all the affluence does is to cause us to be more discontented and ungrateful; because the by-product of having “so many material things” often leads to a heightened desire for more. And sadly, it is very hard to be grateful when we cannot learn to be happy with what we already have.
What’s God’s Will In The Matter?
What we all should say is, “Lord, help me to have an “Attitude of Gratitude.” Because God’s will for us is to be filled in Christ with joy and thanksgiving. His will is NOT for us to complain about life, or to grumble about what we don’t have, or to whine about our circumstances. God doesn’t want us to be comparing ourselves with others either –that will not be wise (1 Corinthians 4:7). Instead, He wants us to face life with gratitude. Nothing beats serving the LORD out of a heart of gratitude and thanksgiving for all that He has done for us, and for His everlasting love towards us.
Brethren! Truth demands a response! And the truth is that God demands that we, the creature, glorify Him as the great Creator! When we don’t, we fail in the great purpose for which we were created. Friends, we have a choice to make –– we can complain about the situation–– focus on everything we lack ––wallow in self-pity––feel victimized and blame others for our misfortunes, or we can be grateful for what is going on right now in our lives and appreciate the good that is ours, while looking forward to the lessons we can learn from the Lord about our experiences–– the choice is pours!
Keep Praising The Lord and You Will Stay Grateful!
O Come, let us sing joy unto the Lord; Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods [Psalms 95:1-3, NIV].
Continue with Me…..
“Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” [Psalms 100:4-5, NIV].
Pray With Me…
Lord, please forgive me for not being grateful enough. Overwhelm my heart with Your power, goodness, love, and glory, which my heart would default to praising You in every moment. I ask for grace to remain grateful for the rest of my life . . . starting from today. Forgive me for when I don’t thank you enough for who you are, for all that you do, for all that you’ve given. Help me to set my eyes and my heart on you afresh! Renew my spirit. This I ask in Jesus’s name. Amen.
By: Lou Yeboah
Executive Editor, Dr Ruth Tanyi
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