The fact is that no matter what, we all have something to be thankful for. Just being alive is a great victory. Just by being born you beat all kinds of odds.
But most people doesn’t really need to use their imagination to find stuff to be thankful for. They just need a little rewiring and change of perspective.
When you make thankfulness a lifestyle, you’re investing in a better life. Because when you recognize all you blessings, that bad stuff gets kind of blurry.
The bible tells us to be thankful in everything. The reason is that thankfulness is the fuel of a humble character. And being humble is good fruit, according to that wise book.
What do you have to be thankful for? Give it a moment, and think about it. I have so many things: A wife, children and other family I love. Roof over my head. I live in a stable country. My kids get to go to school. Freedom. Jesus. The list goes on and on.
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actually you’ve got it all completely the wrong way round.
The bible teaches us to seek to walk with Christ as a way of life. True God-honouring thankfulness is the *fruit* of that walk. We don’t need imagination to be thankful. We need to see Christ crucified for our sins. If we know how much we deserve God’s wrath and yet see how Jesus suffered in our place we cannot help but see that every breath we take is a mercy from God for which we should be thankful to Him. God does not call us to “invest in a better life” for ourselves, He calls us to glorify Him – even at great cost and difficulty to ourselves. You cannot just decide to make thankfulness a lifestyle – that is just self-effort and its doomed to failure. We need God’s grace and God’s ordained means to motivate us which is love. Love which is the response of the heart that is melted by the love which first loved us as His enemies. That is the only kind of motivation that will enable us to rejoice in trials (1 Peter) and transform us into thankful and humble people. Thankfulness is no more the fuel of a humble character than self-control is the fuel of love. Both humility AND thankfulness are the fruit of the Spirit working in us not our efforts. When we understand that our sin is so bad that Jesus had to die for it but His love for us is so great that He was glad to die it then we will understand why Paul calls us to look to and boast only in Jesus Christ and His cross and when we do that, His Spirit WILL produce the fruit. Any other way is not God’s way but a man made way which will produce no lasting fruit. May Jesus’ name be exalted!
Hello Martin,
Thank you very much for enriching this blog with your presence and comment.
You are right in many things. If there is one thing we need to learn Christian brothers and sisters it is to follow Christ and live a life in the spirit.
That being said life is complex. We’re all living in a mixture of good and evil. Paul does not only teach us to look at Jesus and all will be ok. Life is more complicated than that. Paul also asks us to put an effort towards what is good.
Ephisians 4:
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.
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25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 “In your anger do not sin”[d]: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold.
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29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
Here Paul asks people to watch their conduct, without the work of the spirit being stated as the source. It is a call to use our power of will from the state we are in today, and not only the fruit that the spirit will produce tomorrow.
Now this is a thin line from living in the law. And it is not the point of Paul. But sometimes we need to make an effort to change our prespective.
In my experience, being thankful, helps me within my current level of fruit of the spirit. Rather than being tempted to scream out to God where He is, thankfulness makes me discover the blessings that already are there. Rather than turning away in anger, I can see His footprint in my life. It humbles me.
Counting my blessings gives me Hope, rather than letting the curses beat me down. In my life I got good reason to go either way.
It is a two way street. A humble character produce thankfulness. Thankfullness gives fuel to the humbleness. The Spirit is the source of both.