True Gratitude

These people are discontented grumblers, living according to their desires. —Jude 16

Gratitude isn’t something I’m good at. Rather discontentment is my default. The beauty of God’s Word is that it helps us recalibrate when we’ve gotten off track. In the book of Jude, the clear image of God judging those who chronically complain and habitually choose discontentment has the power to remind us to do things differently.

Now, before you add the words “show gratitude” to your to-do list for tomorrow, let me give a little disclaimer. For achievement-driven, to do-list-loving Christian women like me, gratitude can so easily become something that feels like a rule: We must give thanks because God commands us to.

That’s true. It is a commandment. But true gratitude, the really, really good stuff that fills our hearts to overflowing and delights our gracious God, isn’t a result of rule following but of a constant reminder of the beauty of the gospel. If we’re going to put anything on our to-do lists, it should be to remember all that God has done for us that we never earned or deserved.