Gratitude Attitudes

May 16, 2015

“… in everything… with thanksgiving present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)

In the last chapter of the letter to his favorite Church at Philippi Paul gives us a prescription for peace.  The peace of God is a state of personal peace in which God keeps a believer if they meet certain conditions (Isaiah 26:3).  There are twelve such conditions listed in Philippians 4.

As I seek to maintain the personal peace that comes from God, I get more mileage out of the prescription listed above than any of the others.  I have discovered when I begin to thank God for all the good things in my life it’s like a switch clicks and I find my mind automatically moving from the negative to the positive.

To use another metaphor, if I placed all the bad stuff in my life on the left side of a scale – like a scale of justice – and all the good stuff on the right side of that scale, the right side will far outweigh the left side.  That’s what happens when I implement what I call, “The Therapy of Thanksgiving.”

An old hymn put it this way:

“When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed.
When you are discouraged thinking all is lost.
Count your many blessings, name them one by one
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.”

That’s why Paul’s prescription is that when we pray, in everything (not for everything), we should offer thankful prayers.  He promises that when we do, the peace of God will stand guard over our hearts and minds.

Dick Woodward, 22 October 2010

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The Attitude of Ingratitude

December 3, 2013

“…although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, and they were not thankful…”  (Romans 1:21)

The fall of the human race is described in Genesis 3 and more briefly in the first chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans.  A good way to find the application of this teaching is to think of the phrase: “Like it was, like it is.” God describes the fall like it was because He wants us to understand that fall like it is — especially in our own lives.

Paul tells us there were two causes of the fall of man: “When they knew God they did not glorify Him as God” and “They were not thankful.”  According to David when we enter into the presence of God the first thing we know is that He is God and we are His (Psalm 100).

Jesus taught that the new birth is not an end in itself but a means to an end. The end is the Kingdom of God. When we are born again we make Him our King (John 3: 3-5).  When we do not understand this, we think the end to which the new birth is the means is all about us and what God does for us. Your new birth experience can be retarded because you are not giving Him His rightful place in your life as your God.

There are many positive effects of gratitude in your life.  Imagine that if the sin of ingratitude can cause the fall of the human race, think of the negative effects of ingratitude in your life.

Are you experiencing negative consequences in your own private fall because you have an attitude of ingratitude?

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