The Discipline of Gratitude
It’s about this time every year that you start to see more and more people talking about what they’re grateful for, about the things in their lives for which they are thankful.
Henri Noun once wrote, “Gratitude goes beyond the ‘mine’ and ‘thine’ and claims the truth that all of life is a pure gift. In the past I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response to the awareness of gifts received, but now I realize that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline. The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy.”
Have you ever thought of gratitude as a discipline to be practiced?
What’s Your Gratitude Grade?
If you were to give yourself a grade for how grateful you are on a daily basis, what grade would you give yourself? An A? A B+?
Before you answer that question, you might want to think about being creative with how you answer that question. Kind of like this kid named David who got an F on this test but his teacher did give him an A+ for creativity.
Here’s a list of a few of the test questions and David’s creative answers!
- In which battle did Napoleon Die? His last one
- Where was the declaration of Independence signed? On the bottom of the page.
- River Ravi, flows is which state? Liquid State
- How can a man go 8 days without sleeping? Easy, sleep at night.
- If you had 3 apples and 4 oranges in one hand and 3 oranges and 4 apples in the other hand, what would you have? VERY Large HANDS
This teacher did put this one line of instruction at the very top of the test: “Answer these questions as accurately as possible.”
David made an F on the test but got an A+ for his creativity.
The Power of Gratitude and Ingratitude
If we get creative enough we might be able to get an A for gratitude, but the truth is a lot of us simply forget to be grateful. We don’t take time, or enough time, to pause and count our blessings.
We know that there is a power that lies within gratitude. Gratitude has the power to change us, to make us better people, to cultivate within us a spirit full of faith, hope, and love.
But there is also a power that is at work within ingratitude. Sometimes we’re ungrateful and whether we’re that way on purpose or if we’ve just drifted into a negative space something happens in us when we become ungrateful. Something changes.
Just like gratitude has the power to change us and fill us with greater faith, hope, and love, ingratitude has the power to change us and fill us with anger, despair, greed, contempt, and so much more.
Ever been there?
What happens when we wake up one day and we realize just how far we’ve gone down a road we never had any intention of traveling and now we just feel stuck in a negative place, hopeless, alone, and even afraid.
What if part of the answer to finding our way back to where we want to be is gratitude?
Good News
The good news is that gratitude has the power to change us from the inside out, and we have so much to truly be grateful for.
I’m calling this short series of posts, “The Gospel of Gratitude,” because the word gospel literally means, “Good News.”
The word gospel in the original greek language is the word “Euangelion.”
In the ancient world it was a word that referred to a good announcement, something that had happened that everyone needed to know about so a messenger would take the good news about a major battle that had been won or the installment of a new king on the throne and he would travel from town to town announcing this good news!
Everyone, listen us, there is big news, good news, something has happened that changes everything!
And there is good news about gratitude. When we are grateful, truly grateful people, something happens what changes everything. What changes is us.
And here’s some good news, in Jesus there is help, healing, restoration, and redemption.
So today as we begin with the gospel of gratitude, the good news about gratitude, we want to begin with Jesus.
When we realize just how much Jesus has done for us we can’t help but overflow with gratitude.
And you see this in one of the most famous stories of gratitude recorded in all of scripture.
A Famous Story of Gratitude
In Luke 17.11-19 we have one of the most famous stories about gratitude.
Luke is the only gospel writer who gives us this story, and it’s packed with power on multiple levels but lean and pay close attention to what Luke says, especially near the end of the story.
A Border Town
Luke begins with this…
11 As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, he reached the border between Galilee and Samaria.
Luke sets up the story by telling us that there was a border, a man made border, a divide between people groups, a line that separated, in this case – separation between Jews and Samaritans.
People see borders. We make borders. And we make borders that are often difficult to cross. We see lines of demarcation. We see what separates us and divides us.
But can I give you some Gospel news? Some Good news? Jesus doesn’t do borders.
Jesus crosses borders. Jesus unites people who are divided. Jesus sees what we have in common and the differences that are nuanced in each of us designed to make us better together, whole.
We image God individually and we image God collectively in a beautiful way.
There was a border between Galilee and Samaria. But Jesus came to save Jews and Samaritans. They didn’t agree theologically. Jesus loved them both anyway. They were known for their hate and disdain for each other. Jesus loved them both anyway.
Jesus is the on the border, he’s on a fault line of faith. He’s about to enter into this border town. He’s not there to cause division, he’s there on purpose to bring healing, hope, restoration, and unity to a broken world and to broken people.
An Incurable Disease
12 As he entered a village there, ten men with leprosy stood at a distance, 13 crying out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
Leprosy was an incurable disease. Lepers were outcasts, they were separated entirely from family, friends, and community.
They had to call out, “Unclean!” from a distance so no one would come near them for fear they might get this disease too. It was a miserable existence in every imaginable way.
Pain, poverty, isolation, disease, hunger, lack of shelter, all of it!
But then, here comes Jesus!
Jesus had a reputation for healing.
What if Jesus could heal us?
With nothing to lose, they cry out to Jesus
A Progressively Miraculous Moment
14 He looked at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy.
Jesus looked at them. He heard them and he saw them. Most people ignored them. For most people, these lepers were invisible.
Many people feared them. Most everyone stayed away from them. But Jesus saw them. And as soon as His eyes locked with their eyes, they were filled with hope.
The next six words Jesus spoke forever changed their lives. Six words. Jesus gave them six words, one instruction, and I’m sure a loving smile and a kind gesture. As soon as He did, they were off!
Their steps, their obedience, their going was their sign of faith. But watch this, they were not healed instantly. They were not healed as soon as Jesus spoke. Their healing doesn’t seem to be immediate.
Luke writes… “As they WENT they were CLEANSED.”
They believed BEFORE they started walking.
Their faith was working before they fully experienced the healing.
And as they were going they were progressively experiencing the miracle of God!
Sometimes you gotta start walking in faith if you want to experience the grace of God.
They cried out to Jesus making their request known to him. They start walking by faith in obedience to Jesus’ instruction and as they went they are being healed, restored, renewed and very soon, they will be reunited with those they love.
On this border town what separated them was their disease, their nationality, perhaps their theology, and most of all their fear. Jesus removed all those border lines and made it some thing they could cross by healing them.
This was Amazing
What happens next is amazing and a little puzzling.
15 One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God!” 16 He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done.
He stopped walking towards town but he was still walking by faith.
Before being reunited with family and friends there was something he had to do first! As important as that was, and it was important, he first had to return to Jesus and show his GRATITUDE.
And O, by the way…
This man was a Samaritan.
You mean Jesus healed HIM? A Samaritan?
Yep!
Why?
Because love doesn’t do borders.
Every person is a person created in the image of God for the glory of God. So every person is a person of immeasurable worth. Jesus knew it. He didn’t see a Samaritan. He saw a man who was hurting and needed healing.
And this Samaritan man fell down at the feet of Jesus in gratitude giving thanks to God for his healing.
He was overwhelmed with gratitude.
Which is amazing! If this were to happen today we would all be amazed!
And Puzzling
But it’s also puzzling. Why? Jesus was actually a little confused, too.
17 Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? 18 Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?”
Jesus healed ten, yet only one returned with a heart full of gratitude.
19 And Jesus said to the man, “Stand up and go. Your faith has healed you.”
What about you?
When was the last time you paused to really give God thanks for what He has done for you?
The Gratitude Gap
In 2015, Janice Kaplan wrote a book she called, The Gratitude Diaries, How a Year Looking on the Bright Side can Change Your Life. It became a New York Times Bestseller.
In the first chapter she talks about how may of us suffer from what she called the “gratitude gap.”
In a survey she had done funded by the John Templeton Foundation, she found that most people know they should be grateful. In the survey 94% of Americans thought that people who are grateful are also more fulfilled and lead richer loves. But here’s what’s interesting, less than half the people surveyed said they expressed gratitude on any regular basis. It’s interesting, but not surprising.
Most of us understand that practicing the discipline of Gratitude leads to a richer, fuller life. Yet, we just don’t do it. It’s easier to focus on the negative. We’re busy, distracted, and tired. But what if the spiritual practice of gratitude put us on the pathway to the abundant life we’re after, the abundant life Jesus promised.
Here’s what’s interesting, anyone can practice gratitude and experience a better life. Even people who don’t believe in Jesus.
Why?
Because it’s the way God made made us. We were wired for gratitude. And practicing gratitude releases within us something science can observe but really can’t fully explain. NO doubt, there’s something physical that happens in the brain with we practice gratitude. But even more than that, there’s something spiritual that happens. Something that happens deep inside our very souls.
Like this man who came back to Jesus to give thanks…
Gratitude grounded in faith has a healing power.
And this healing power far surpasses physical healing.
All ten lepers were physically healed. And that healing wasn’t reversed because of the lack of gratitude from the other 9. But this one man who came back to Jesus, falling before him in humility with gratitude, was not only set free from physical disease, his heart was healed from the self-centeredness that afflicts us all.
Giving God our gratitude in humility and faith sets our hearts free to worship, our eyes free to see the goodness of God and the goodness in others.
Practice Gratitude
So what are you grateful to God for?
Janice Kaplan suggest writing down three things each day you’re grateful for. And that’s a good practice. But I would suggest writing down those three things and telling God you’re grateful to Him for each one.
For every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of Heavenly lights. – James 1.17
Gratitude has the power to change us from the inside out. And I believe the reason for that is because when we are grateful we are tapping into the way God created us. We were created to be grateful.
“The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy.”
– Henri Nouwen
Can I tell you what I’m grateful to God for today?
I’m grateful to God for my family. My beautiful wife and my amazing three children.
I’m grateful to God for my church family. They have loved me, supported me, and stood in the gap for me over and over again and I am so thankful for each and every one who is a part of our church.
And I’m grateful to God for Jesus.
From before time began God had a plan in place to provide for our healing. He knew that we would suffer from a sin sick soul for which there is no man made remedy. Only the blood of Jesus could cleanse us and make us new, could wash away every spot, every blemish.
Let’s come before him from now on in faith with humility and with hearts full of gratitude and give Him our praise.
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