Why Have An Attitude of Gratitude?

“I wanna go on camera and say ‘I appreciate God!’” a young man named Dre said at the 8:20 mark in my recorded conversation with him. He had been talking about the fact that he believes in God and prays every day, not just when he needs something, but all the time.

This told me that Dre didn’t just view God like a genie in a bottle, to be taken out when he needs something, but as more like Jesus portrayed – as our heavenly Father with whom we can have a relationship and who cares for us as a good father cares for his children.

In fact, when Jesus gave us his “Lord’s prayer” as our model, we are instructed to not only ask “Our Father in Heaven” for our daily bread but for important relational things like forgiveness and the ability to forgive; for a right relationship to God as our Lord and most high King, yes; but also for His protection from temptation and evil.

I think Dre learned to relate to God in this way from his church involvement growing up, but he really hasn’t taken ownership of his part in that relationship now that he is an adult. He has stopped going to church, he’s lost perspective on the sins for which he has been forgiven, and he’s forgotten what it means to respect God in repentance. As a result though he knows it is important to have gratitude and appreciation, he’s forgotten why we should have that attitude in the first place.

So why should we appreciate God? What is the ultimate source of having an attitude of gratitude? Does it come from looking around the world and seeing people suffering and in great need of basic necessities, and just being grateful that we are not in their situation?
I don’t think so, because I’ve met many people who see the pain and suffering in our world and, instead of gratitude, respond with bitterness toward God or the idea of a god who has the ability to instantly relieve all that suffering but chooses not to. Since God made us, they reason, shouldn’t He be obligated to take care of us?

No, our gratitude needs to be built on a much deeper foundation than that. It needs to be built on the very foundational principle of the Bible itself – that rather than the innocent children and victims we might see ourselves as, we are in fact rebels against God who choose to go our own way. We are sinners not just be nature but by our actual actions, and we don’t deserve God’s loving care and mercy.

Because God is perfect in His goodness which means He is also perfect in His justice, we need to be redeemed from the consequences of our sin and the only adequate payment for our redemption was the sacrifice of God’s perfect Son Jesus on our behalf.

As he has drifted from his church upbringing, I think Dre has also drifted from this biblical understanding of Jesus and the cross as the basis for our gratitude, and toward the cheap substitute of simply being glad that we don’t have a worse situation than the next guy.

Toward the end of our conversation, I told Dre of the constant sense of wonder and amazement and gratitude I feel as a Christian, that comes not as a result of temporary blessings, but because, as Jesus said, “rather, rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20)