Gratitude

Gratitude is the proper response to grace. As a Christian, we are recipients of grace. Grace is an unearned gift. Grace, in the Bible, is also called a favor. Unbelieving arrogance says, “Don’t do me any favors.” That is pride, and is on the top of the list of things God hates the most. There is something about ingratitude that is by all seen as ungracious. Everyone recognizes it in others. You hold the door for someone, and they ignore you. Well, how many doors has God held open for you and you gave not so much as a thank you? What about the gift you sent, even to a relative, and you had to ask, after it was never mentioned, “Did you get my gift, card, the check I sent?” And then, only then, you get an “Oh, yes, I forgot, I’ve been so busy with school, and work, and myself, you know, thank you. Worship is an act of gratitude in response to grace.  Yet, in measure, sinner or no, life itself is a gift filled with gifts.
Everything I have, and am, or hope to be, I owe it all Dear Lord to Thee. I am blessed from the top of my head to the tip of my toes, everything borrowed, thus my spirit owes Thee gratitude. Much of the riot and resentment and rage we see in our age is the result of unbelief and an ungrateful heart. The Bible says, “godliness with contentment is great gain.”  Gratitude is being grateful for what we have, and all we have has by God been given. The Bible reminds us even that “it is the Lord that gives us power to get wealth.” So everything we have is a gift. From our gender, to the color of our skin, our height, our might, and our very sight, a gift, a favor, a blessing. Resenting being a daughter instead of a son is to reject God’s gift and will for one’s life. Resenting being short, or “thick,” or frail fails to find the diamond in the rough. Yes, “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” Contentment, not resentment, is the key to happiness, and the willingness to take the single talent or tiny seed God gave and allow Him to show the world that little is much when God is in it.