You Want to Change Your Life? Start by Being Thankful.

An Elder

One thing I've noticed in life is that thankfulness and negativity do not go together. In fact, I've never met a negative person who was also truly thankful. Nor have I met a positive person who was ungrateful. Even more contrasting is that a lack of thankfulness might actually lead to a whole host of evils. Thankful people, after all, have a perspective, or a mindset, that helps guard their heart from darkness. Perhaps this is why the bible speaks so much about having a thankful heart.

The psalmist commands us to give thanks to the Lord because He's good and His steadfast love endures forever (Psalm 106:1). This command is so profound that it is repeated exactly that way at least 4 times throughout the bible. But it isn't just the command of the psalmist singing his song. It's also intimated by Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians. He tells them to give thanks in ALL circumstances, because this is the WILL of God (1 Thessalonians 5:18). It is the will of God that we be thankful in ALL circumstances.

Now for a moment, you might think Paul a bit callous. What do you mean Paul? Do you mean that those people who witnessed the bloodshed in Paris a week ago in a very up-close-and-personal way should be thankful for that traumatic experience? Well obviously, Paul isn't telling us that we are to be thankful for the evil that comes our way. We are to shun evil – even hate it (Proverbs 14:16, 1 Thessalonians 5:22). Instead, Paul's point is that we are to be thankful that God is in control, has a plan for our ultimate well being, and is seeing to it that the lives of those submitted to him will have meaning, purpose, and an ultimate reward (Romans 8:28-29). God knows that in order for us to be truly thankful, that we will have to acknowledge His place in our lives as provider, protector, author and finisher, and to recognize our place in the universe – which is to be a subject of the greatest of all kings.

When we are thankful, we cannot be ungrateful. When we are thankful, we cannot be resentful. People are never disobedient to those masters to whom they are really thankful. When we are thankful, it is difficult to be arrogant or proud. Now, notice what people who don't know Jesus will look like at the end of time on earth. 2 Timothy 3:1-5 tells us they will be arrogant, proud, disobedient and among many other things, ungrateful!

So if everything around you looks dark, follow the commands of the bible, and find something to be thankful to God for. If you look, you will find many things.  And it will change your perspective.