This is the final part in our series on gratitude.
A grateful person stands out in a world of entitlement. Philippians 2:14-15 says:
14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, ‘children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.’ Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky 16 as you hold firmly to the word of life.
Paul is saying, gratitude is an evangelistic strategy. How is the church to ‘shine like stars against the dark sky of society’? Through being a people who don’t constantly grumble. A community of grateful people are those who are real about their struggles but they have learnt to see God’s grace through all of them. They focus more on what they have than what they don’t. They pause in the heat of life to notice God’s gifts, which brings them resilience against the complaining culture which tries to suck them in.
Go into any workspace and very quickly you’ll see which colleagues bring life to an environment and which drain the life out of it. Grateful people are attractive people. Grateful people display the goodness of God because they realise all of life is gift. Even the hard times. Gratitude is part of gospel proclamation since it declares God’s gracious gifts as the foundation of life rather than our own efforts, merits and entitlements.
Discipling people into gratitude
As we walk with others, we very easily focus on the negatives in life. We spend time complaining about our bosses, our colleagues, our kids, the government, the weather – everything! Without realizing it, we lose sight of the blessings we have and start to revel in our misery. This is why we need others to help uncloud our vision and point us to gratitude.
We need to help each other to pause and notice grace. British comedy group Monty Python have a scene where Jewish revolutionaries are plotting to overthrow the Romans. The leader, Reg, stands up and in an attempt to galvanise his followers says: “And what have the Romans ever done for us?” One pipes up,” the aqueducts”. “Yes, that’s true” he concedes. Another says, “Sanitation”. “Yet another “Roads”, and another shouts “Irrigation”, and still another says “Medicine, education, health”. From the back “Wine, public baths, safety”. Reg concedes again, “Fair enough, but apart from the aqueducts, the sanitation, irrigation, medicine, education, health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order… what have the Romans done for us?”
The scene is comical in its absurdity. But, this is discipleship. Every time we grumble and moan, we’re actually saying ‘what has God ever done for me?” What we need is a group of people to help us see what God has actually done for us and what God may be doing in us and in other people that we don’t recognise.
As Reg’s response at the end tells us, some people just don’t want to be grateful. They like misery and negativity. At the end of the day, if you find yourself more affected by them than you affect them, it is best to minimize the amount of time you spend with them as much as possible. But, if we are to be a community of salt and light how can we together seek to foster this gratitude as a habit? Here are a few ideas:
- When you get together for an accountability time, don’t just focus on asking about each other’s sins or struggles. Start by asking “where have you seen God’s grace in your life this week?” Notice what people say and don’t say. Notice whether people are ever grateful for the gospel or only for material benefits.
- When you hear others complaining about a person or situation, be the first to say something positive. This doesn’t need to be condescending. You can admit where that person has real weakness or faults or the situation is hard and yet still say, but…I have seen X, Y, Z in that person. Or ask them “what do you think has been good about X,Y,Z?” “How do you see God’s hand at work in you through this or through them?”
- Take time in prayer to write down what you’re grateful to God for. Think about why you’re grateful. What does it reveal to you about what God is like?
- Take time in your CG to discuss: do the friends or people you hang out with influence you to be more negative and dissatisfied with life? Do they continually encourage you to fight for your own rights all the time? Ask someone else who knows you how they think the people around you affect you. It may surprise you to learn how far you are influenced by those around you and how little you are aware of it.