The High Ground of Gratitude

The High Ground of Gratitude

Psalm 100

A Message for Thanksgiving

November 22, 1998

Rev. Charles S. Mims

The Holy Bible, King James Version

Psalms 100:1 through Psalms 100:5
¹Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.

²Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

³Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

⁴Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

⁵For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

Perhaps you may have heard the story of the young man who was told by his doctor that he had only six months to live? In shock, the young man asked if there was anything that could be done. After all, he was still a young man and had many things left to do in life. The doctor thought about his question for a bit, and then finally gave him a solution. The doctor told the young man to go out and find the ugliest, most cantankerous woman he could find and marry her. He told the young man to insure that he found a woman that would incessantly nag him, and complain about everything he said or did. (Now, if any of you men out there are thinking that I'm describing your wife, perhaps we had better talk after the service about loving your wife as Christ loved the church.) Then he had to go out and buy the most beat up old pickup truck he could fine, preferably one that wouldn't run all of the time. Then he needed to buy a run down old apartment right in the middle of downtown Orlando. Somewhat skeptical the young man looked at the doctor and asked, "Doc, are you sure that this will help me to live longer?" "Not at all," replied the doctor, "but it sure will make six months seem like a lifetime!"

You know, many people love to complain. Some folks would complain if everything were going well. You know the type, the ones whose lumbago is always acting up, or the waiters aren't fast enough, or the food is too hot, or too cold. We even have them in the church. We have the people who complain because the preacher is too young, or the preacher is too old. They complain because the building is too cold, or too hot. Because the pews are padded or because they aren't. Because the sermon was too long, or too short, and on and on the list will go.

The unhappy truth is that a recent study was conducted and it was discovered that these chronic complainers actually live LONGER than those with a sweet disposition. The study says that this act of complaining actually gives them a purpose to go on living. I suppose the question though, is do they actually live longer, or does it just seem that way to those of us who have to listen to them?

One thing we must realize as we approach this Thanksgiving holiday is that both gratitude and grumbling are learned. We make a choice as to whether we are going to live a life with a thankful heart, or live a life with a heart full of discontent. Sometimes we need to develop new habits, or allow events to be viewed way. There are several layers, or levels of gratitude, each one higher than the one before. We need to set our sights on higher ground when it comes to gratitude. Perhaps we should learn from this little story:

In his book Living Life on Purpose, Greg Anderson shares the story of one man's journey to joy:

... his wife had left him and he was completely depressed. He had lost faith in himself, in other people, in God--he found no joy in living.

One rainy morning this man went to a small neighborhood restaurant for breakfast. Although several people were at the diner, no one was speaking to anyone else. Our miserable friend hunched over the counter, stirring his coffee with a spoon.

In one of the small booths along the window was a young mother with a little girl. They had just been served their food when the little girl broke the sad silence by almost shouting, "Momma, why don't we say our prayers here?"

The waitress who had just served their breakfast turned around and said, "Sure, honey, we pray here. Will you say the prayer for us?" And she turned and looked at the rest of the people in the restaurant and said, "Bow your heads."

Surprisingly, one by one, the heads went down. The little girl then bowed her head, folded her hands, and said, "God is great, God is good, and we thank him for our food. Amen."

That prayer changed the entire atmosphere. People began to talk with one another. The waitress said, "We should do that every morning."

"All of a sudden," said our friend, "my whole frame of mind started to improve. From that little girl's example, I started to thank God for all that I did have and stop majoring in all that I didn't have. I started to choose happiness."

Leadership, Vol. 17, no. 4.

Expressing Gratitude is a Habit

The choice is important to us because expressing gratitude is a habit. It is a habit that you and I must cultivate. A habit is something that we do automatically, without thinking. We all have habits. Some of those habits are good, some are bad. Any habit that we may have can be cultivated or overcome. We must cultivate an attitude of gratitude. Then when we finally form these good habits, we must keep them. We must make it a regular part of our day to go around being grateful for what we have. We have far more than many other people, and yet we are still, for the most part, not content with our lot in life. The thing is, that no matter how bad we think that we may have it, someone else has it worse. Look at it through the eyes of H. J. Duffy's four-year-old daughter:

My four-year-old was standing on a kitchen chair pulled close to the wall, intensely staring at the familiar "Our Daily Bread" painting of the older man praying over a small loaf.

"What are you doing, Honey?" I asked.

"Looking," she said with a catch in her voice.

Noticing tears under her dark lashes, I probed deeper. "What are you thinking?"

With a heartfelt sigh, she replied, "He doesn't have any peanut butter."

H.J. Duffy, Livingston, Texas. Christian Reader, "Kids of the Kingdom."

Sometimes we have the peanut butter, but we don't realize it because we want the jelly also. We need to make a practice of being grateful for what we have.

Expressing Gratitude is Polite

The choice is important to us because expressing gratitude is polite. We expect others to say thank you when we do something for them, and they in return expect it from us. We have the right to expect someone to be grateful. It seems that common ordinary good manners are non-existent these days. I remember a time when a blowing horn meant someone had an emergency, not that they wanted you out of the way so they could get where they are going 10 seconds faster than you do. I remember a time when someone pushed against you, stepped in front of you they said excuse me. I remember a time when people said thank you for doing something. It was common courtesy, and was expected. We ought to go back to expecting people to be thankful. God surely does. He expects our gratitude for what He has done for us. He expects us to tell him so, just as I (as a parent) expect my children to tell me thank you. If we failed to thank him, it would be rude and thoughtless on our part. Gratitude is courtesy, but it is truly so much more, it is an expression of how we feel about the person we are grateful toward. We must try to always say thank you, not only to those here on earth, but to God as well. We must try to say thank you, even when we think we haven't been given what we thought was our due, because a heartfelt thank you is encouraging.

One evening at dinner four-year-old Robbie volunteered to say the blessing. With hands folded, Robbie said his usual table grace, "God is great, God is good..." but after a quick peek at the food on the table, quickly added, "And thank you, God, for the hands that repaired it!"

Charlotte Slater, Greenville, Pennsylvania. Christian Reader, "Kids of the Kingdom."

Thank God, and thank each other because it is polite to show our gratitude.

Expressing Gratitude is Worship

The choice is important because it is worship when we show gratitude. Verse 4 commands us to:

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

Pagan religions do a better job of thanking their deities than we do, and we worship the one true God. We find example after example where heathen people thank their gods for almost anything. Even to the point of offering thanks for the air which they breathe. During this holiday of Thanksgiving we should, perhaps, get back to the true meaning of Thanksgiving. We talk a lot about putting Christ back in Christmas, but we should be putting Christ back in Thanksgiving. The pilgrims had the first thanksgiving to thank God for the bountiful harvest, as well as to honor their new Indian friends that helped them grow the crops. For them, it was an act of worship. We need to make gratitude a larger part of our worship. It's quite easy to ask God for this or that, but it is another thing entirely to have our prayers reflect an attitude of gratitude.

I've seen a picture of the pilgrims at the first American Thanksgiving. Do you know half of their number died the first year they were here? They had a hard time, and it was a cold winter. Dangers lurked everywhere, but those pilgrims didn't think of the death of their loved ones and the dangers and the cold weather. They didn't let that obscure the blessings of God. They went together, and they thanked the Lord for the blessings they had received.

Sometimes we need to put down our assets alongside our losses. Every one of us is more blessed than we are hurt.

Charles Allen, "Lessons from the Lepers," Preaching Today, Tape No. 147.

It's time we start making thanksgiving a part of our everyday worship rather than a once a year feast. We have a lot to be thankful for, and we should practice the habit of being in an attitude of gratitude.

Rod Cooper tells this story, "I used to be the chaplain for the Astros and the Oilers when I was in Houston, Texas. After I'd do a chapel, they'd give me tickets. One time in the Astrodome I watched Earl Campbell run over everybody, his own men included, to get to the goal line. When he got to the goal line, he put the ball down. The place went crazy. People were giving high fives and jumping around. The score board went off. The same thing happened when the Astros hit a home run. It was a ringing shout, because their man scored a touchdown.

I'm not saying that when you come to church you need to give each other high fives or do cartwheels down the aisle, but worship is a time of anticipation and expectation. We come together because all week God has been knocking home runs and scoring touchdowns in our lives. Worship is a time to celebrate what God has done for us. "

-- Rod Cooper, "Worship or Worry?" Preaching Today, Tape No. 108.

The choice is important because expressing gratitude shows our faith. It shows that we realize where our blessings came from. It shows that we have faith in God to continue to take care of us. It shows that we have placed our lives in God's hands when we thank Him for what happens to us. If we are living a life filled with gratitude, it will make our faith stronger and our life more joyful.

Expressing Gratitude Shows Our Love

Finally, the choice is important because expressing gratitude shows our love. When we show gratitude it is a recognition that we never take our gifts for granted. It shows that we don't take the giver for granted either.

Whenever people expend themselves, they want results. If they lay down life, they want someone's life raised up. If they empty themselves, they want someone to be filled. They want their sufferings to bear fruit.

If this doesn't happen, they're tempted to give up. The refusal of the gift quickly becomes a reason not to offer it. Instead of leaning into resistance with love, they'll back off and say, "Well, we tried."

However, the motive for offering love is not that it be successful. Christians want reponse, but they are not bound to it. They sacrifice for others because they are the recipients of sacrifice. They are the current generation of a long line of broken bodies and shed blood.

This gift Christians have received, they freely give. They join the living history in enacting the dream of God, [which] is a people sustained and transformed by mutual sacrificial love.

Fr. John Shea in U.S. Catholic (March 1990). Christianity Today, Vol. 34, no. 7.

Our love must be expressed in words as well as action. We need to let the ones we love know we love them, and that we are thankful for them. I am thankful for my wife. My life would truly be different had she not found me and changed the course of my life. She added new purpose and direction, and for this I cannot be anything but thankful. In the same vein, you should be thankful for those people who have affected your life. It may be a spouse, or other family member; it may be a long forgotten Sunday School Teacher, or a pastor, or a godly friend. Take the time this week, and every week, to thank those who have changed your life. When you thank them, it shows your love for them. Above all, show your love for God by thanking Him.

It is better to thank God out of habit than not to thank Him at all; better to thank Him from courtesy than not to thank Him at all. It is good to thank God in worship, better to thank Him in faith, and best of all to thank Him because you love Him. Let's turn this Thanksgiving into a true time of being thankful. We have all seen a parent nudging a child and saying, "What do you say?" and hearing the child respond with a timid "Thank You." It is a good way to teach a child, but we should never have to nudge believers and say "What do you say to the nice God?" Thanksgiving instead should never be coerced but should come from the heart. What are you thankful for today?