Abounding Gratitude

Great are Your tender mercies, O Lord; Revive me according to Your judgments. - Psalm 119:156.

This week also, we continued to meditate on the theme of gratitude. The gratitude attitude—and what a difference it makes in our lives.We'll look at what it means to be a grateful person, and the difference between a grateful heart and an ungrateful heart. We'll look at how we should give thanks, when we should give thanks, what we should be thankful for, and what it means to offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving. We'll talk about how to cultivate, in a practical way, an attitude of gratitude in our lives.

When we go back to the Greek language, the original language in which the New Testament was written, we find that there is a similar root word for several words that we read in English. The same root word is used for the words thanks, thanksgiving, gratitude, gift, and grace. All of those words come from a very similar Greek word, and they’re all connected: gift, grace, gratitude, and thanks.

Let’s think about some of those words. When we think about the word "grace," it suggests something that is a gift given to people who don’t deserve that gift. It’s a gift bestowed on undeserving people. That’s God’s grace. He gives us what we don’t deserve.

Gratitude has to do with my response to God’s grace, my response to His gifts. It’s that feeling of appreciation and thankfulness that I have when I think about what God has given me.

It’s interesting that they’re both two very similar words in the original Greek language in which the New Testament was written. God’s gifts to us, His grace to us, and our gratitude back to Him all are closely related.

Both grace and gratitude are freely given. They’re not something that you can manufacture or work up. They have to be freely given.

Gratitude is really recognizing and expressing our appreciation for the benefits that we’ve received from God and from others. Let me say that definition again, what it means to have an attitude of gratitude. It’s recognizing and expressing appreciation for the benefits that I’ve received from God and from others; recognizing those benefits—benefits I’ve received from God and benefits I’ve received from others. But not only recognizing those benefits, also expressing appreciation for them, communicating gratitude.

When we read the gospel, which is really the whole story of the Bible, three words that summarize the gospel. They all start with “G.” The first word is the word guilt. We stand before God; we are born into this world as guilty sinners deserving the wrath and the judgment of God for He is a holy God, and He has to judge sin. So we are guilty. That’s where our story starts. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23. We are under the wrath of God; we are under the judgment of God, and we have no hope of ever being able to please God. We have no hope of ever having a right relationship with God because we are guilty. Our guilt has separated us from a Holy God. That’s the first word of the gospel: guilt.

Then there’s the word grace—the grace of God, where He steps down from heaven and bridges the gap between Himself, a holy God, and us, as fallen, desperate, hopeless sinners. The Scripture says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (He sought us out) Rom. 5:8. We never sought after God. We would have never chosen God. He chose us. He sent Jesus Christ to be His solution for our sin, to pay the penalty for our guilt. That’s all grace. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8 NKJV). Grace—a gift for guilty sinners. So the gospel is my guilt, and God’s grace—God’s gracious gift of Jesus Christ to pay the penalty for my sin.

But there’s another word that makes up the gospel, and that’s the word gratitude—guilt, grace, and gratitude. Our natural response when we realize what God has done for us, how undeserving we were, and are, and how gracious He’s been to us and all that He’s poured out upon us in Jesus Christ, not only in giving us salvation but in giving us sanctification and the promise of ultimate glorification. All of God’s gifts. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Colossians 3:15, 17.