My Gratitude May Not Be About Me
Do your words of thanks affect others?
Verse of the Day
‘So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” ‘
Today’s Devotional
Jesus is about to raise Lazarus from the dead, after four days in the tomb. Before He performs this miracle, He thanks His Father for hearing Him. I love the way Jesus words this prayer. His thanks to the Father is for the benefit of others.
Have you ever considered that your spoken gratitude could benefit others?
Your gratitude to God, if spoken aloud in my presence, can help me to see what God deserves credit for. Your spoken words of thanks to others can remind me of the importance of being thankful.
Think of children. They learn so much better from proper behavior being modeled for them than they do from actual instruction. I believe I am similar in that regard. I need to see and hear you being grateful in order to help me to learn how to become a person of gratitude.
Jesus did not thank the Father in order to show off His gratitude skills. Nothing Jesus ever did was from a place of self-promotion. It’s interesting to me how Jesus words this. He gave thanks “for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
You and I are also sent by God. God is our Father just like God is Jesus’s Father. What if our spoken gratitude helps others to see that we are all sons and daughters of God? What if our willingness to speak our thanks helps other people to see the Father who put us on this earth?
If Proverbs 18:21 is true, and I believe that it is, then the tongue can bring life or death. Our words matter. This is very easy for me to forget. Perhaps my spoken words of gratitude can speak life into your heart in some small way. Maybe your words of thanks can help me to see the good side of life in that moment.
If Jesus offers thanks for the benefit of those who heard Him, then maybe we should too. Not in a showy way, but in a manner that acknowledges that we believe that every good and perfect gift really does come from God.
Your gratitude helps me. I pray that my gratitude helps you. If my main purpose on this earth is to love God and love others, then I can express my love for God with my sincere thanks, and I can love you well by being grateful for your presence in my life.
Today’s Gratitude Challenge 1: Think of a person in your life who has given you good advice or counsel. Proverbs 11:14 says, “Without guidance, a people will fall, but with many counselors there is deliverance.” We should be people who actively seek out wise counsel. And then we should listen to the advice we are given. Proverbs 12:15 says, “Fools think their own way is right, but the wise listen to others.” Today, write out your thanks to God for a person in your life who has advised you well. Then practice being a person of active gratitude and reach out to this person today. If your advisor is no longer living, tell another person about your advisor and express your thanks for this person who gave you Godly wisdom.
Today’s Gratitude Challenge 2: Are you grateful for your sense of smell? According to wikipedia, The sense of smell has many functions, including detecting desirable foods, hazards, and pheromones, and plays a role in taste. Also, the sense of smell is closely linked to memory recall. A certain smell can bring memories to the mind better and fasted than many other stimuli. Not everything we smell is pleasant, but so many wonderful things we experience incorporate the sense of smell. Are you grateful for that?
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
How has the gratefulness of someone else affected you?
How can you model being a person of gratitude? Who is in your sphere of influence?
How can you be more like Jesus today?
Write out your thanks to God for a person in your life who has advised you well. Then practice being a person of active gratitude and reach out to this person today. If your advisor is no longer living, tell another person about your advisor and express your thanks for this person who gave you Godly wisdom.
How and why are you grateful for your sense of smell?