It’s Thanksgiving. A time that we all traditionally talk about and act on what we are grateful for. I mean, it seems a little sacrilegious not to talk about gratitude when the holiday season begins, right?
But I want to talk about the type of gratitude that seems overlooked much of the year: Eternal Gratitude. It is the gratitude that stems from the sacrifice that Christ offered on the cross. Literally life-saving gratitude. It is the root of Christian living. Eternal gratitude offers a contentment, peace, and joy that reaches beyond our understanding. It is the kind of gratitude that is more of a verb than a noun, and should be the driver behind our everyday decisions.
Do we live our lives with such gratitude for Christ’s sacrifice that it drives our EVERY thought and action? TBH – probably not (insert grace here). But we cannot live our lives like grace is a Get Out Of Jail Free card. We aren’t entitled to it. It isn’t an exception. It isn’t a license or a sanction or a blank check to be cashed. It isn’t some entitled freebie. It is simply, and profoundly, a gift. Our living should derive from gratitude fueled by sacrifice.
In Ecclesiastes, Solomon talks about everything under the sun and he describes it as fleeting and striving after wind. It is temporary and unfulfilling. His perspective of living is without heaven in view because Solomon is far from God. Ecclesiastes 1:14 says, I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and striving after wind. Solomon is unfulfilled himself, even though he did not deny himself any earthly pleasures. He indulged in possessions, work, wisdom, and whatever his eyes desired. I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun, Ecclesiastes 2:11. Solomon worked for the gratification of stuff, and it ultimately left him empty.
Do we labor with heaven in view? Are we driven by our desires as Solomon was? Do we strive for what is considered vanity? Or do we live each day with gratitude that that Christ took the punishment for our sins? Do we live like we are content, peaceful, and joyful with eternity in sight?
In Ecclesiastes 3:11 Solomon says that God has made everything beautiful in its time. The he goes on to say, Also, he has put eternity into a man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. Our longing for something lasting was placed in us by God and can only be filled by God. That is why he placed that longing there, so that we HAVE to seek him for that fulfillment. However, when we choose to fill our eternal longing with temporal things, we fall decades short of any sort of fulfillment. Everything has its time, as Solomon said. Temporal blessings or things are not necessarily bad. It is the state of the heart that can make temporal versus eternal an issue. We cannot attempt to fill our eternal longing with temporary stuff, yet we do it over and over.
Matthew 6:19-21 says, Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Where are our treasures? What matters to us?
You’ve heard the saying, “*Bleep* in one hand and want in the other.” I mean, let’s be honest, some of us parents have said it to our kids when they get a little too entitled. Don’t pretend you haven’t. But lets put a twist on it…”Want in one hand and live out of eternal gratitude in the other and see which one offers the most contentment, peace, and joy that lasts. Can you guess which one will have more eternal effects? Our wants are so fleeting, vain, and temporal. Eternal gratitude with obedience offers so much more than our wants ever could.
Don’t confuse the temporal for the eternal. Once is finite, the other is everlasting.
But how do we change?!
2 Corinthians 10:4-5 says, For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every loft opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.
Take. Every. Thought. Captive.
As we take our thoughts captive, we weigh them against what God says and what we know to be true about God’s character. God’s word isn’t a set of guidelines to a suggestions. It is an instruction manual for life! Chaos ensues when we don’t follow instructions that are intended solely for our good. By taking every thought captive, and using our manual for life, we equip ourselves (out of gratitude) for eternity. We should be eternally grateful that we do not have to have all the answers and bear all of the burden on our own. Why? God’s sovereignty.
It is important to ask ourselves these questions:
Am I driven by wants or am I driven by my gratitude for what God has done for me? Weigh it against John 3:16 – For God SO loved the world….
How do I handle adversity? Am I grateful for God’s sovereignty in EVERY situation of my life? Weigh it against Philippians 4:12 – I know how to be brought low and I know how to abound; James 1:2 – Count it ALL joy when you meet trials of various kinds.
What consumes my headspace and my energy? What we think about is who we are, so what we fill our minds with is crucial to our well-being. Weigh it against Romans 12:2 – Renew your mind; 2 Corinthians 10:5 – Take EVERY thought captive.
Will my wants show others that I am thankful and content with God’s provision in my life? Weigh it against Philippians 4:19 – My God will supply EVERY need.
With God, we have the power to change our thoughts, actions, and reactions. Philippians 4:13, I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me. Why? Because I am grateful for God in every aspect of my life. Colossians 1:16-17 says, For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth. He is before all things and in him all things hold together.
Like love, gratitude requires action. How? By living out our thankfulness, by being content in the blessings God has given, and by resting in the fact that we do not have to carry it all on our own.
We see gratitude being lived out by the healed leper in Mark 1:40-45, by the woman at the well in John 4:1-42, and by Saul who became Paul in Acts 9. These are all powerful examples of gratitude in action. We must live out of what God has done for us, not in what we strive to do for ourselves.
Philippians 4:8-9 says, Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me – practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
PRACTICE. THESE. THINGS.
That sounds like a call to action if I have ever heard one.
When we act on eternal gratitude we are offered:
Obedience…and with obedience comes…
Contentment…and with contentment comes…
Peace…and with peace comes…
Joy!
All beyond our understanding.
We just simply must…
Live. Out. Of Gratitude.
Meditate on Psalm 118 this week and be thankful for God’s presence in your life.
God bless your Thanksgiving and may eternal gratitude become a perpetual part of your daily living.
feed yourself, girl 