The Power of Gratitude
I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers… (Ephesians 1:16 ESV)
Gratitude is the purest expression of faith. And there is good reason for it.
If we may look past all of the failures of the flesh in others, past all of the weaknesses of human will, past all of the wounds that thoughtless words have caused, then we will see the hand of God at work in each Christian. We are not what we should be, but we are not what we once were, nor what we will yet become in Christ Jesus. Rather than looking at the thing in a brother or sister in the Lord that has hurt us, we should look at the progress that has already been made in that life by Christ’s Spirit.
And in our attitude toward the unsaved world, it is good for us to remember that the world passing away, and has no hold on us. Our sins are forgiven by God, not by the world, and the world has no hold over us in terms of our sins. David prayed to God, “Against Thee and Thee only have I sinned” (Psalm 51:4). If God forgives then who can accuse? (Rom. 8:33) God’s work is eternal and we can rest in that reality.
A Scottish pastor well known for his prayers of gratitude came to lead in worship one Sunday when the weather was miserable — sleet, cold, windy — plus there had been a death in the church family. So the people wondered what he would thank God for that day, if anything. He began his prayer thusly, “We thank Thee, O God, that it is not always like this.”
Can’t we pray a similar prayer: “We thank You, Heavenly Father, that it will not always be like this.” The world will not always be around to persecute and reject us. Christians will not always remain in a state of immaturity — He who began a good work in each of us will complete it one day (Phil. 1:6). Cannot we pray in gratitude for the promised victory of Christ and for the evidences in each other’s lives of our spiritual progress?
And in sorrow and separation, or in loss and sickness, cannot we also take comfort in knowing that every earthly life has an end to it, that death was assured the moment a child is born? And that one day sorrows and sicknesses and separations and grievings will cease? Cannot we take comfort in these truths? There were hardships in Ephesus and persecutions. It was in reference to that place that Paul described the Christian’s life to a soldier in a spiritual conflict. But there was so much more to be grateful for, as there is for us.
If we lose a loved one, as painful as that is, we can take heart and be grateful knowing that we shall see them again. If failure seems to dog our steps and hound us all our life long, we can take heart knowing that in Him we are more than conquerors. If people disappoint us we can be assured that God will still win in the end. We can be grateful for every person and amid every situation in life. Faith feeds gratitude and gratitude builds up our faith.
