Growing in Gratitude by Grace
Gratitude isn’t technically listed as one of the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5. Maybe it was a given? How can we not walk in gratitude as Christians?
As I’ve prepared for Thanksgiving, I’ve been trying to inventory all the things I’m grateful for. Starting at the top, I’m thankful for Christ. When you let all of that soak in, it’s about enough to stop you in your tracks. Not only for what He did for us at the Cross, but all that He taught us before and all of His guidance since. We certainly didn’t deserve it, and that alone is more than we could ever say thank you for enough.
Then you have the obvious top 5s or top 10s of our lives. Our families, kids, friends, homes, all of the things as Americans we count as a given right rather than a blessing, until we realize that these things aren’t so automatic for a lot of people around the world, and even right here at home.
But when I thank God for the things I’m grateful for today, I start to also thank Him for the things that caused them. Many of today’s blessings grew out of something I was worried or angry about in the past. When I was begging God to change these things, I didn’t know what I was asking Him to take away. And I’m so grateful that He didn’t listen.
God is always working. everywhere, for everyone who loves Him, in every circumstance. So, we should be thankful for the blessings we can see, but I think we can also go ahead and thank Him in advance for all of the blessings we can’t see yet from the things we may not be so thankful for today.
Happy Thanksgiving!
(PS, go like us on Goodpods (https://goodpods.com), and maybe we can crack the top 5)
Our Best vs. God’s Best
Several years ago, a friend asked me if I wanted to be on his mud run team. “Hmm, sounds fun”, I said, “but what’s a mud run?” A couple of amusing minutes later, not only was I positive I didn’t want to be on his mud run team, but I was also reevaluating the judgement of my friend selection. That sounded insane!
No offense to anyone who has participated in these self-inflicted torture tests, but I’m out. After paying about a $100 entry fee, you get to run like 2 miles through freezing water and mud, through dozens of obstacles including my personal favorite, live electrical wires! But not for nothing, if you complete the course, you get a free tee shirt.
At first glance, this might be the way we see the Christian Walk. Being crucified with Christ and baptized into His death doesn’t sound fun (Romans 6). Dying to self and picking up our cross daily doesn’t sound appealing at face value either (1 Cor. 15 & Luke 9). But that’s because of our flawed human perspective. Our selfish nature causes us to see our ways as best and, as a result, we view trading them for God’s righteousness as a sacrifice.
But God doesn’t see it is a sacrifice. From His perspective, we are ALREADY running the self-inflicted torture test, and He’s offering us a way out. Everything Jesus suffered at the Cross was to give us access to a better way. It even refunds our entry fee and ends up with something way better than a tee-shirt.
If you want to see how much God wants us to stop torturing ourselves, just look at the Cross. Did the same God who loved us enough to brutally sacrifice His only Son for us do it just so we could sacrifice our own joy back to Him? If that’s what He was willing to do to give us another way, how much torture are we putting ourselves through?
I won’t try to answer that. Even God couldn’t find words to answer that. He showed us with Jesus.