40acts: Ready to ActSample

Act 27: Gratitude 

Imagine you’re making your acceptance speech at the Oscars. Who would you mention as the people who have made the most impact on your life?  Grab a pen and paper and start making that list. 

There are plenty of life coaches and self-help gurus out there who tell us to live gratefully. It’s an easy line that trips off the tongue, but a confusing one to live out in the world – grateful to what? Grateful to whom? Thankfully, as believers, we know why gratitude makes sense and feels so intuitive. We know there is someone to be grateful to. Gratitude comes when we see everything good as a gift, and not just as the balance of life tipping in our favour. 

James 1:17 frames it beautifully: ‘Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like the shifting shadows.’ If James puts it this way, we know two things: that God is responsible for every good thing we experience. Not just the odd intervention: every good moment, every great relationship, every bite of food, every warm fire or new job. And we know that this is always the case. God doesn’t change or move his stance on this. 

If gratitude is life-giving, it follows that taking what God gives us for granted shrinks and dulls your life. Imagine someone opening a gift that you got for them, looking at it at arm’s length, and then putting it aside like it was just part of their day. That’s much like us going through our days without expressing any kind of gratitude to God.

Today, then, we’re looking to bless those whom God has sent into our lives to change us for the good. Take that verse from James, and put a friend’s name in the middle of it. They have come into your life from God – they are no accident, or coincidence. So, tell them. Who do you owe a heart-felt thank you to?