BE ACTIVE IN YOUR GRATITUDE
1 Thessalonians 5:18--18 in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Isaiah 25:1, 6-9—
1O LORD, You are my God;
I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name;
For You have worked wonders,
Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.
6The LORD of hosts will prepare a [b]lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain;
A banquet of [c]aged wine, [d]choice pieces with marrow,
And [e]refined, aged wine.
7 And on this mountain He will swallow up the [f]covering which is over all peoples,
Even the veil which is [g]stretched over all nations.
8 He will swallow up death for all time,
And the Lord [h]GOD will wipe tears away from all faces,
And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth;
For the LORD has spoken.
9 And it will be said in that day,
“Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us.
This is the LORD for whom we have waited;
Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”
Catharsis is defined as the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions. In other words, you purge yourself of strong or repressed emotions by releasing them in some way. For example, after a stressful or traumatic event, a person may cry which is the activity of being cathartic. If a person is appreciative of something to a point that they can’t hold their excitement in, they may become cathartic in their gratitude by showing deep appreciation in one way or another.
The guilt associated with failing to meet obligations may cause a person to show gratitude to another whom they have let down, in an attempt to release that guilt. The acts following that event are meant to show the deep appreciation that the friends have for each other.
Additionally, in a more solitary way, possessions left from passed loved ones may provide a sense of serenity that enables the new owner to reflect with gratitude on that object. The use of gratitude serves as an agent of catharsis, and both parties feel satisfied in the end. Which is a pretty good segue into the other reason that gratitude works.
There was an article in the Wall Street journal in 2010 by Melinda Beck that had a line in it that stated that
“…adults who feel grateful have more energy, more optimism, more social connections and more happiness than those who do not, according to studies conducted over the past decade. They’re also less likely to be depressed, envious, greedy or alcoholics.” – Melinda Beck
Cathartic Intensity
In other words, how active are you in your thankfulness to God?
In IS 25:1, the word EXALT is written in a Hebrew form which is intensive. For example, instead of saying “I will sing to the Lord,” you might say “I will openly, gladly, shout songs of praise as I sing unto the Lord.”
There is an intensity in this praise and singing.
Study of 300 young adults
3 groups—
1. One group wrote letters of gratitude each week for 3 weeks
2. One group wrote about deepest thoughts and feelings about negative experiences
3. One group did no writing
Those who wrote gratitude letter reported significantly better mental health after the writing exercises ended. The findings:
1. Gratitude unshackles us from toxic emotions
The group that wrote the letters prospered from using fewer negative emotion words in their letters reported a greater increase in mental health. The attention was shifted away from toxic emotions and more towards appreciation.
2. Gratitude helps even if you don’t share it
Those who wrote the letters were not required to send the letters, and only 23 percent sent their letters. Just the fact of “journaling” their positive emotions made an impact on their mental health. It was not dependent on actually communicating that gratititude
3. Gratitude’s benefits take time
The increase in mental health benefits increase from week 4 through week 12 according to the participants. It may take time, but as it is repeatedly done, your brain begins to feel better.
4. Gratitude has lasting effects on the brain
About three months after the psychotherapy sessions began, we took some of the people who wrote gratitude letters and compared them with those who didn’t do any writing. We wanted to know if their brains were processing information differently.
We used an fMRI scanner to measure brain activity while people from each group did a “pay it forward” task. In that task, the individuals were regularly given a small amount of money by a nice person, called the “benefactor.” This benefactor only asked that they pass the money on to someone if they felt grateful. Our participants then decided how much of the money, if any, to pass on to a worthy cause (and we did in fact donate that money to a local charity).
We wanted to distinguish donations motivated by gratitude from donations driven by other motivations, like feelings of guilt or obligation. So we asked the participants to rate how grateful they felt toward the benefactor, and how much they wanted to help each charitable cause, as well as how guilty they would feel if they didn’t help. We also gave them questionnaires to measure how grateful they are in their lives in general.
We found that across the participants, when people felt more grateful, their brain activity was distinct from brain activity related to guilt and the desire to help a cause. More specifically, we found that when people who are generally more grateful gave more money to a cause, they showed greater neural sensitivity in the medial prefrontal cortex, a brain area associated with learning and decision making. This suggests that people who are more grateful are also more attentive to how they express gratitude and make better decisions in their life.
Most interestingly, when we compared those who wrote the gratitude letters with those who didn’t, the gratitude letter writers showed greater activation in the medial prefrontal cortex when they experienced gratitude in the fMRI scanner. This is striking as this effect was found three months after the letter writing began. This indicates that simply expressing gratitude may have lasting effects on the brain (Wong, J. & Brown, J., 2017).
HOW CAN WE BE CATHARTIC ABOUT OUR GRATITUDE? How can we purge ourselves of our strong emotions that we have on the inside and SHOW our gratitude to God?
1. VERBALIZE HIS NAME (Names of God list)
Psalm 92:1--“It is good . . . to sing praises to Your name, O Most High."
2. ACTIVELY SING PRAISES
A number of years ago the late-night television host, Johnny Carson, had the great L.A. Dodger pitcher Orel Hershiser on his program. During Carson’s 27th anniversary program he replayed the segment with Hershiser, who had been a star of the World Series the previous year. Carson commented that people could see Hershiser singing in the dugout between innings. He asked the ace pitcher what songs he sang. Hershiser was an outspoken Christian, and he told Carson that he would gladly sing the song he sang most of the time to calm his nerves in a tight game. Carson, and the audience, were stunned when Hershiser sang, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him all creatures here below. Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost, Amen!”
There was a pause and then the audience broke into applause. Carson ended his 27th Anniversary program playing that tape and expressing that it was one of the most beloved incidents he had in those years doing The Tonight Show.”
Go ahead, Praise God! Even the world will be impressed. Most of all, your praise pleases God, blesses you and serves to reach a lost world! Express your gratitude to God! Exalt the Lord!
3. WALKING UPRIGHT BEFORE HIM
The Bible repeatedly tells us we're to be holy because the Lord is holy (Lev. 11:44, Lev. 19:2, Lev. 20:7) You may think that's impossible for us to do. But remember, Satan is a deceiver (John 8:44), and he tries to delude believers with this thought: God may have said that, but He knows it's impossible. He didn't really mean it literally. Do you think God is in the habit of saying things He doesn't mean? God is truth, and it's impossible for Him to lie (John 1:14, John 14:6).
4. GIVE GENEROUSLY AND CHEERFULLY
God owns everything. If we want to trust Him to supply all our needs, shouldn’t we trust Him to fulfill His word? He doesn’t lie. Think of the woman with the two small coins. She FREELY gave to God.
CONCLUSION
Historically, philosophers have suggested that gratitude is one of the most important human emotions for the success of the society, and religious and spiritual thinkers have suggested that it is a crucial aspect of religious and spiritual life. Modern psychology research confirms that gratitude is an important social emotion that can benefit the lives of religious people who practice gratitude, and that practicing gratitude can also benefit non-religious people.
For the specific purposes of positive psychology, gratitude is a powerful tool for increasing well-being in all sorts of settings. The benefits of practicing gratitude are also not tied to any sort of specific pathology, which is also in line with the values of positive psychology research. Investigations into the power of gratitude should continue being an important part of future research directions in positive psychology.
The most exciting aspect of all these benefits of gratitude is that gratitude costs absolutely nothing to practice and that anyone can easily be grateful for their lives. There are all sorts of ways to practicegratitude, and it can be practiced in any setting of daily life, from home to school to work and even to prisons and retirement homes. Next time you have a free moment, try practicing some gratitude. You might just be surprised by the benefits it brings you.
References
Wong, J. & Brown, J. (2017, June 6). How Gratitude Changes You and Your Brain. Retrieved from Greater Good Magazine: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_gratitude_changes_you_and_your_brain
*With all the information that is available for consumption, some of my sermons may be influenced by what i have read or heard. Anything that is posted is available to be used by all. The Lord gives abundantly and may you be blessed!
