If you could discover one thing that would guarantee a happier life experience, would you do it?
The Bible shows us that a most important key to joyful living is the practice of being habitually thankful.
Genuine thankfulness is possible when we believe that we have reason for which to be thankful. That is easy to do when we contemplate the good things in our lives or have just received an answer to prayer or some unexpected blessing. If we can learn to be habitually thankful for known blessings, that is a great start for building a thankful and happy life. Many people never even get that far. They take God and blessings for granted, complaining about everything that doesn’t seem to go their way.
Complaining is one of the biggest sins in the Bible. Perhaps that surprises you. If you want to check it out, read through Numbers and see how many times God came down hard on complainers.
When we gripe about our circumstances, we are actually complaining about God’s rule in our lives. Complaining is an overt act of rebellion.
The reason this is so is because the Bible clearly teaches that our Lord is working everything, yes, everything, out for our good and his glory.
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 (ESV)
When we complain, we call God a liar.
Thankfulness is built upon the conviction that God loves us and consistently acts in our behalf in a way that is good, powerful, and wise. It becomes habitual when we surrender to God all our demands and desires, believing that he is generous and will give us everything we need. It is complete when we would rather glorify God than do anything else, which means we let go of our demand to understand why he allows pain to come into our lives.
Thankful people are happy people who bring honor and glory to their Creator and encouragement to others.
The practice of being thankful is simple to grasp but costly to do. It costs us our pride. The gains are well worth it, however.
How about you? Are you willing to lay down your pride and become thankful in all things? I hope so. If so, why not start now?
Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (ESV)
Prayer
Father in heaven, thank you for creating me. Thank you for the gift of life. Thank you for all the good things you have given to me over the years and your promise to provide and care for me forever. Thank you for sending your Son, Jesus, to die on the cross and rise again, so that I could be restored to a right relationship with you. I also give thanks for the difficult things going on in my life right now. (List them out loud.) I believe you are working all things out for my good and your glory. Glorify yourself through my life, Lord, and through the situations and circumstances surrounding me. Let me bring glory to you by modeling trust and thankfulness to others. I believe you love me and always have my best interests in mind. Amen.
