An Attitude of Gratitude – kenbarnes.us
Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let’s show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; Hebrews 12:28 NASB
The Echo of Grace In Our Hearts
When we have ungratefulness in our hearts, it is a sure sign we do not understand God’s grace. John Piper once said, “Gratitude is the echo of grace as it reverberates through the hollows of the human heart.” Ingratitude contradicts grace, God’s unmerited favor. It is like saying I deserve what I don’t deserve. Grace in our hearts brings thankfulness to our lips. In my early experience as a Christian, I had to admit that I had things resounding in my heart that indicated that I neither fully understood nor embraced God’s grace. One experience in paradise illustrated this very point.
I Was Coveting My Neighbors Ox!
I worked as a missionary from 1977 to 1984 with Youth With A Mission (YWAM for short) in, of all places, Hawaii. Before coming to the Islands, my wife and I had good jobs, and finances were never a significant concern. Our financial situation changed when we joined YWAM: all volunteers had to raise their financial support. In the early years of our mission experience, things were tight financially. We had to budget our support carefully and keep our nonessential spending to a bare minimum. We allowed ourselves to have a treat once a week. That would be a bag of potato chips for our weekend lunch sandwiches. Or sometimes we would get daring and buy a half-gallon of ice cream. We were not living high on the hog.
On a typical Saturday morning, you would find me going to a tiny village about a mile from our training center to purchase our chips for lunch. I didn’t have a car, so I walked. On these treks to the market, my attitude wasn’t quite what it should have been. And this is an understatement. On many of these Saturday mornings, I would see a guy drive past in his new Mercedes Benz. Maybe he’s going to the local racquet club. He probably doesn’t care about God, I would think to myself with a sarcastic look. As he drove past me, it appeared he would double-clutch (though I could very well have imagined it) and blow diesel exhaust in my face. He seemed to be adding insult to injury. Something welled inside me that wanted to say, “Why does he have a car and not me.” I was coveting my neighbor’s ox.
I arrived at the village store. I collected my toothpaste and potato chips and stood at the checkout. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the person in front of me put several expensive desserts on the belt. Once again, thoughts tumbled in my head that, if I had expressed them, I would have said, “Why does this person get goodies and not me.” Covetousness is a comparison game we play. It’s not about numbers. We don’t care how much others have as long as it is not more than us.
God Interrupted My Little Pity Party
One day, on a Saturday trudge to the market, God intruded into my bubble of self-centeredness. As I pondered all that I didn’t have, in a still small voice, God said to me, “Give me thanks.” My response showed the condition of my heart. “For what?” I said. Then I looked down at my feet and saw my flip-flops (no one wears shoes in Hawaii), and the thought occurred to me: I can thank him for these because many people worldwide have no shoes to wear. I started walking up and down that road, thanking Him for my flip-flops and many other seemingly small things. An amazing thing started to happen; my attitude began to change. Not overnight, but little by little, I realized that God did not owe me anything. Whatever I had above nothing, I did not deserve; it was His grace to me. If the only things God gave me were flip-flops and His great salvation, then I was immensely blessed. My pity parties started to change to conversations with God, where most sentences began and ended with thank you.
The enemy of our souls thrives on ungratefulness and discontent, and we give him the ammunition to fire at us by choosing to dwell on what we lack rather than on God’s blessings. The antidotes for self-pity are gratefulness and contentment. “Now godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Tim. 6:6 NKJV). In the final analysis, gratefulness is an attitude of heart based not on our circumstances but on God’s goodness. Walking along that road in Kona, Hawaii, I learned how purposing to be thankful, and content opened my eyes to the goodness of God. Ultimately, gratefulness emanates from what God has done for us through the grace of His Son, Jesus Christ
Gratitude will change your life when it becomes your default attitude.
Image used from permission by Microsoft.
Ken Barnes, the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places” YWAM Publishing and Broken Vessels through Kindle Direct Publishing.
Ken’s Website— https://kenbarnes.us/
Ken blogs at https://kenbarnes.us/blog/
Email- [email protected]
