Gratitude is a Choice

Today’s devotional is from James MacDonald and was provided by Lifeway stores.

“Give thanks in everything, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

1Thessalonians 5:18

Gratitude Is a Choice

Life is all about choices.  Attitude is the first one.  When you encounter a situation that isn’t what you think it should be, you must choose to see it like the proverbial glass half-full or the glass half-empty.  Those two paths take you to different places, depending on your attitude.

In Numbers 14 God said to a whole generation of His own children, “I can’t take your attitude anymore.  Go back into the wilderness and die.”  He loved these people; He miraculously and dramatically rescued them.  But no matter what He did for them, they refused to stop murmuring.  So God decided to give their kids the blessing they wouldn’t let Him give to them—all because they refused to change their attitude.

All it would have taken was a heartfelt thank-You.  God would have been pleased if they had just been grateful for all the ways He had protected and cared for them just as He had promised to do.  A simple acknowledgment of what they had received from His hand was all He wanted.  Their gratitude would have changed history.

Pay attention to almost any self-improvement book, magazine article, blog or television talk show that provides a list for a better life, and you’ll find that the number one answer is to be thankful for all the good in your life.  Even pagans see the truth in the choice of a thankful attitude.

A God-centered, faith-oriented, grateful life is a healthier, happier life.  This advice is from people who don’t even know God.  It’s commonly accepted that fulfillment comes when you get outside yourself.  Joy begins to flow when you stop focusing on the glass half-empty and focus instead on the glass half-full by giving thanks.  God’s fullness comes to those who turn from complaining and embrace thankfulness as the focus of their thought life.

Where’s your attitude taking you today?  You may be putting up a good front, but is your heart stuck somewhere between a complaining and a thankful attitude?  Need help getting out of a wilderness?

Begin the trek out with this thought: God is kind and good to offer us another path, the higher road of a thankful attitude.  Let’s get on it.