Developing a Thankful Heart
In Luke 17, Jesus went into a village and healed ten men with leprosy. After one Samaritan man saw that he was healed, he returned to Jesus and praised God. When Jesus saw him, he asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” (Lk. 17:17-18). We would like to think that if we received such a gift, we would be filled with gratitude. However, it is humbling to see that all but one of these men failed to respond with a thankful heart.
In her book One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010), Ann Voskamp connects this issue back to the first sin in the garden, the sin of ingratitude; as she says, “Adam and Eve are simply, painfully, ungrateful for what God gave” (p. 15). She says that humanity overlooks what the material world truly is: “the means to communion with God” (p. 16). God engages with our everyday lives; we need to have eyes to see His actions.
Gratitude is an important mechanism in this communion. In fact, it’s so important that gratitude should be considered a spiritual discipline. When we intentionally choose to identify and name the blessings in our lives, we engage in a transformational experience. It gives us a lens through which we will begin to see life and God differently.
Our hope in God is based on looking back at our past walk with him, noting and giving thanks for the ways He has interceded in our lives. That hope is steeped in thankfulness, and we must seek to develop a grateful heart. Voskamp says that the act of thanksgiving is connected to what is to come. Jesus, when He bowed His head and gave thanks, engaged in eucharisteo, which means “thanksgiving” but is also connected to the words for “grace” and “joy” (p. 32). Voskamp says, “Eucharisteo—thanksgiving—always precedes the miracle” (p. 35). Jesus gave thanks to God on a regular basis, which prepared Him and His followers for the ultimate miracle of salvation through His sacrifice.
If we are not actively looking for evidence of grace in our lives or searching for the ways that God has tried to bring us joy, we can easily become so busy and distracted that we cannot see what God has done for us. Much like a kayaker who is trying to paddle upstream, when we are not actively struggling against the cultural influences that encourage us to entitlement, discontent, and perhaps even greed, we are giving them the opportunity to shape us untended. We are giving them the opportunity to warp our vision, our desires, and our character. How many things have you and I not given thanks for today? How many things have we taken for granted? Perhaps we have even prayed, asking God for something in particular and then later overlooked it, or felt it to be a burden.
We must strive to be the one who returns to say thanks. Thankfulness always precedes the miracle, and perhaps even opens our eyes up to see that it has already been done. We will not do this perfectly every day, but keeping thankfulness in the forefront of our mind will change the lens we use to see the world. It will help us better see God at work in our lives and recognize the blessings He brings into our lives. Whether you keep a gratitude journal or incorporate thankfulness into your evening prayers, making a conscious effort will help change your heart. Showing thankfulness for what God has done allows Him to change us.
