The Gratitude in our Attitudes

Really? Does the Bible really want us to be thankful in ALL circumstances? That’s a pretty hefty request in a world of earthquakes, AIDS orphans, and so many other overwhelming situations. We’ll never understand the reason for hurt, yet so often we falsely convince ourselves the only way to heal our attitude is by putting God at fault for the pain we are experiencing. We question God why pain exists in our own life. We allow our attitude to be a reflection of our circumstances rather than the free gift of His grace.

This past week my attitude has been everything except zealous. I haven’t really been a downer, I’ve just sort of been floating there, moving but not fully alive. I thought that perhaps I had become overwhelmed by the circumstances of some of the children at the orphanage. This week one of my kids tried to give me 50 shillings. It’s the equivalent of about 4 cents, and I could tell it was all he had. At that moment I think my heart broke in yet another piece. Too bad my attitude was more self-absorbed than anything, otherwise I would likely be wearing the same joyful smile those kids bring to school with them each and every day.

This morning I examined myself internally in an effort to sort out my apathetic and bogus attitude. I woke up this morning with the bright idea to rate myself on the fruits of the spirit. Seriously, my idea was to bring each of the fruits of the spirit before Jesus in prayer and ask him to rate me from 1 to 10. So I got a cup of tea, turned on some music and took out my journal. Hah! How natural and ignorant is it to sit there and feel like God just wants to judge us. I closed my eyes and deeply asked “Jesus how am I doing?” I literally expected He would proceed to point out all of my character flaws. After a few minutes of getting nothing back, I finally saw His face kindly put it this way:

“Beloved you are perfect for God! I have made you perfect and set you free!”

WOW, had I really allowed my scorecard of life to take president over mercy and grace? Had I really set such an expectation of my behavior and allowed it to control my attitude? When we let ourselves live under the legalism of the Torah rather than the freedom of the Bible our attitudes are nothing but miserable!

I’m not saying God doesn’t want to strengthen and sanctify our character. But today I was reminded that it’s not about what we do or don’t do, it’s about living freely because Jesus’ deep desire for our life is to live freely with the SAME Holy Spirit that was within Him. As we do that our capacity to love others increases infinitely. In Brennan Manning’s book, The Ragamuffin Gospel, he explains that “the way we see other people is usually the way we see ourselves”. Meaning, if we are constantly judging ourselves and grading our own scorecards in life then we will inevitably judge and accuse others rather than acknowledge that they too are not under the law but offered grace.

We have so many scorecards the world tells us to add and compare with each other:

- Our Bank Accounts
- Our Health
- Our Looks
- Our Relationships with Family
- Our Relationships with Others
- Our Careers
- Our Intelligence
- Our Attitude

Luckily, we never have to add and compare them so long as we fully accept the grace of Jesus.

One of my favorite speakers, Graham Cooke, puts it this way:

“When your present, your future, your health, your destiny, and your life all depend totally on the God who works for weak, twisted, and deceitful people… then you simply have to be the happiest people on the face of the earth.”

Take some time today to identify which of your scorecards are taking president over the mercy and grace of our Heavenly Father. Remember that joy lies in trusting God, not in understanding Him.

My economics degree tells me the secret to happiness is when marginal cost equals marginal benefit. Let me save you the four years of theory and plainly say that gratitude is the secret to happiness. Once you burn those scorecards, then it becomes possible to truly give thanks in all circumstances and the gratitude in your attitude will surely set you free!