Unlock Gratitude in Your Life
As we approach the holiday season—Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year—God invites His people to embrace the fullness of His life. Yet, the enemy seeks to sow discouragement through what mental health experts identify as “holiday depression and stress.” Feelings of sadness, loneliness, and anxiety often overshadow this season meant for reflection and joy. Now, more than ever, God’s people must rise above these schemes, walking in His abundant life and becoming a testimony of His better way in Jesus.
One vital truth to remember during this time is this: It is not just that we serve the Lord, which is important, but HOW WE SERVE HIM. Our attitude in serving Him directly impacts the quality of our life in Him and the testimony we bear to the world. One essential characteristic that Scripture repeatedly highlights is gladness—expressed through gratitude and thankfulness.
Serve the Lord with Gladness
Psalm 100 commands us:
- “Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth. Serve the LORD with gladness; come before Him with joyful singing… Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him; bless His name. For the LORD is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting and His faithfulness to all generations.” (Psalm 100:1-2, 4-5)
This call is not optional. Serving God with gladness is central to experiencing His abundant life and declaring His glory to the world. But how often do we stop to ask ourselves, Am I serving Him with gladness?
The Danger of Serving Without Gratitude
The Bible warns of serious consequences when we fail to serve God with gladness. Deuteronomy 28 reminds us that curses can follow those who neglect this command:
- “So all these curses shall come on you and pursue you and overtake you…Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and a glad heart, for the abundance of all things…” (Deuteronomy 28:45-47)
We see this truth vividly illustrated in the story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32).
- The Younger Brother: He abandoned his father, squandered his inheritance, and ended up in misery. Yet, when he “came to his senses” and returned home, his father welcomed him joyfully, restoring his life. Gratitude helped break the curses and directed him back into the fullness of his father’s love.
- The Older Brother: Though he remained in his father’s house, he harbored resentment due to a lack of gratitude. When his brother returned, he became angry at the celebration, revealing his cursed state. His father gently corrected him, saying, “Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours” (Luke 15:31). The issue was not that he did not serve his father—it was that he didn’t serve with gladness. His lack of gratitude made room for the curses (Deuteronomy 28), which robbed him of experiencing his father’s abundant life.
This serves as a warning: even faithful service, lived without gratitude, can lead to the curses of bitterness, resentment, etc., which erode the life of God that is in us.
Gratitude and Our Testimony
Hitler staring at the bust of Nietzsche
Gratitude enriches our relationship with God and affects our witness to the world. Consider the tragic testimony of Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher whose ideas fueled the “God is dead” movement and deeply influenced Adolf Hitler’s worldview contributing to his version of Nazism.
Nietzsche published eleven books before his death, and one of them, “Thus Spoke Zarathustra,” was distributed to German troops in a durable military edition carried in their rucksacks as they entered into the killing fields of WW1.
Nietzsche’s family was very religious. His father was a Lutheran pastor, and Nietzsche was raised in that same direction. Yet he struggled with faith because of the testimony he often saw in “Christians.” He decided to give faith another shot by diligently being around Christians who were deeply devoted to God.
He ended up rejecting Christ, and when asked why, he replied, “I never saw the members of my father’s church enjoying themselves.” He further lamented: “They would have to sing better songs to make me believe in their Redeemer;
“They would have to sing better songs to make me believe in their Redeemer; His disciples would have to look more redeemed!”
The lack of joy and gratitude in the Christians he observed contributed to his rejection of faith, with devastating consequences for history. This sobering example reminds us that a lack of gratitude can result in cursing that undermines our experience of God’s life and our witness to a world desperate for the hope and peace only Christ offers.
Two Practices to Cultivate Gratitude
1. Start Each Day with Thanksgiving in your Prayer, Praise, and worship.
Make prayer, praise, and worship with thanksgiving a daily habit. Gratitude in prayer helps us focus on God’s goodness rather than our circumstances.
- Psalm 100:4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and bless His name.
- Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
2. Live from a Foundation of Eternal Gratitude
Our gratitude must not depend on temporary blessings but on the eternal truth of who God is and our salvation. Hebrews 2:3 calls it “so great a salvation.” No matter our circumstances, we can thank God for His unchanging goodness, His faithful love, and the security of our eternal life in Him.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.
- Psalm 136:1 Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.
Charles Spurgeon shared the story of a Puritan woman who lived in a simple cottage and exemplified the effects (blessing) of eternal gratitude as she sat down to a meager meal.
“Sitting down to a meager meal of bread and water, she lifted her hands and exclaimed, “What! All this, and Christ too?” – Spurgeon
A Call to Gratitude
This holiday season, let us reject the enemy’s schemes of sadness and anxiety. Instead, let us embrace the life of gratitude that honors God, deepens our walk with Him, and shines as a testimony to a broken world. Remember God’s eternal formula:
Everything minus Jesus equals nothing, but Jesus plus nothing equals everything.
Let us live as a redeemed people, with hearts full of thanksgiving, declaring the goodness of our God to a world in desperate need of His love and life.