Beyond gratefulness

Today I wanted to share some thoughts about gratefulness. When counselors talk about gratitude as an attitude- they get a person to focus on what has gone well with a moment in life, then express it thankfully. But who are we thanking for these positive moments? Are we grateful to ourselves for noticing? What about turning this gratefulness towards God the Creator who is the one truly responsible for every good thing?

Christians however are not just grateful for the good things but also the hardships and difficulties. This concept seems antithetical to the general concept of gratefulness which only elevates the positive.

There is a good God who gives me treasures to find each day. It is up to me to go on a treasure hunt to find these serendipitous moments. The times when we find a treasure we say “thank you” to our God who created this moment of connection. It postures me correctly before God as the provider and I am the one who receives. I am not elevating myself as the author of my good things but I am elevating God as the one I thank. However even in difficulties I can be grateful. Times of hardship are moments to connect with God and remember that God’s provision might be hidden from my sight but it is present if I look. I will miss these provisions unless I stop to connect with God through gratitude.

However I have noticed some attitudes which change my posture before God and stop my heart being thankful.

1. Comparison- this makes me look aside at the person beside me as somehow getting something I didn’t get. This posture looks sideways at what others are receiving rather than looking to God as providing for all my needs and his blessings which are specific to me. Instead I champion others and rejoice in the good gifts they receive. The things God gives me are specific to me so I can celebrate someone else’s blessing without feeling jealous or without any sense of sour grapes.

2. Unforgiveness makes me look aside at another person who has wronged me with bitterness. Then anything good which I receive from God will be tainted by a sense of superiority or pride (mistakenly thinking God has preferred me over the person I resent) and my thankfulness will be tainted by spite. God wants each of His children to learn to forgive and keep on forgiving.

3. Agenda- when I have any agenda with God, even if I am thankful for His provision, the agenda takes up space between God and me. So using gratefulness for the benefit of an agenda means that the relationship with God is tainted by some other purpose. God is gracious and forgives us when we have elevated anything even good things as being ultimate things. Only God is to be our ultimate focus.

4. Negativity- kills gratefulness by putting a negative spin to every good gift received. God is a good God who will not give you bad gifts or accidentally give you something which he intended for someone else. God truly loves each and every child of God. Receiving from God does not reduce you as a child but confirms your standing as being accepted and loved. Ultimately the spirit behind negativity is pride. We negate things because of a false humility which tells us that we might become proud if we received from God and that it would be more humble to negate God’s gifts. But in that process we end up spending more time thinking about ourselves.

What if true humility is gratefully receiving God’s gifts in order to bless others? In that space we end up not thinking of ourselves but thinking of others more and seeing how God's good gifts are intended for me to use in the world I live in to benefit others.