Overflowing: Why Real Gratitude Starts with the Gospel
If you read last month’s blog post, you know about my early struggle with comparison and how the gospel freed me to find contentment in Christ alone. (If not, you can read it here.) When our hearts are secure in Christ’s love for us, we no longer must fight for acceptance, approval, or validation. We don’t have to strive to measure up to someone else. We all find equal footing at the cross and can find wholeness in a relationship with Jesus.
Contentment is highly underrated. It not only frees us from comparison but also leads us to a place of peace and joy with our own lot in life (Psalm 16). And gratitude is the result. Contentment settles the heart; gratitude gives it a voice. And just as contentment can be learned (Philippians 4:11-13), so can gratitude. They are both gifts of the gospel.
Ingratitude Turns Our Hearts from God
Our spiritual enemies—society, Satan, and self—will tell us everyone else has what we want, whether it’s a bigger house, a more beautiful body, or a better marriage. The gospel tells us we already have all we need in Christ. When we dwell on our perceived lack, we grow bitter and discontented. When we turn our hearts toward the gospel, we are filled with gratitude for what Jesus has done.
In Romans 1, Paul makes the argument that God is just in His wrath toward sinful humanity because creation itself testifies of His existence and power.
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Romans 1:21, NIV, italics mine).
Paul specifically names a lack of gratitude as an aspect of mankind’s apostasy. When we fail to give God thanks for who He is and all He has done, our hearts grow bitter and we turn our eyes inward rather than upward. When God’s people grumbled in the wilderness, they demonstrated just how quickly we forget what God has done. Ingratitude turns our hearts away from God.
The Gospel Gives Us the Greatest Reason to Give Thanks
Creation testifies of the goodness and wisdom and power of God. The cross testifies of His love and faithfulness and grace.
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6-8).
We don’t deserve God’s mercy, and we cannot earn His grace. They are gifts from our Creator who demonstrated His love through the sacrificial death of His Son. When we take time to consider who God is and all He has done for us, rather than looking around at what we think we deserve and don’t have, our hearts grow in gratitude. Giving thanks is the natural result.
In Paul’s prayer for the Colossians, he asks God that they may please Him by “giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified [them] to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:12-14, brackets mine).
I love that he described their thanks as “joyful!” And why? Because they have been rescued from darkness, redeemed, forgiven, and qualified for the inheritance of the kingdom of light! How easily do we lose sight of this truth and get caught up in the world’s way of life!
In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote “All this [Paul’s ministry] is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God” (2 Corinthians 4:15, brackets mine). Here the Greek word for thanksgiving is eucharistia, which combines eu (good, well) and charis (grace, favor, gift). Its verb form, eucharisteō, appears about 38 times in the New Testament. Our English word Eucharist comes from this word family, because Jesus “gave thanks” when He broke the bread at the Last Supper (Luke 22:19, 1 Corinthians 11:24).
The implication is that thanksgiving flows from a heart that cherishes His grace. Because that grace is what secures our eternity, saves us from sin, and transforms us for His glory, our lives should overflow with gratitude and thanksgiving—not just in November but every day of the year.
“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness” (Colossians 2:6-7).
Gratitude is not just “counting our blessings”; it’s a way of life that flows from a heart rescued from darkness and brought into the light, all because of God’s grace.
This month in your inbox and on socials, we will memorize Colossians 2:6-7 and participate in our Gratitude Challenge. Be sure to sign up for our emails and join our private Facebook group, Growing Your Faith. Let’s encourage one another to grow in gratitude as we turn our hearts from the world and turn our faces toward Him.