Gratitude Is WAY More Important Than You Think

I have been a touring artist for more than 15 years and, honestly, it has been amazing.

Despite late nights, long van drives, setting up and packing down and living out of a suitcase, I am more grateful than ever to do what I do.
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The fact is, the majority of people in the world struggle to survive and they're wondering where their next meal is coming from. To have time and resources to paint, take pictures, make films, or play music is a blessing very few people in history have experienced.

Being an artist is an incredible privilege, but that is just the icing on the cake. The fact that I have a healthy brain and body, that I'm well-fed and clothed, and that I live in a nice house are reasons enough to produce an eternally grateful heart.

And, of course, this says nothing about what Jesus has done for me. I should be shouting my praise to God from the rooftops, but do I? I think a lack of gratitude is incredibly serious.

To not be grateful is simply to not understand reality.

In Philippians 6, Paul says that we should not be anxious about anything, but in all things, with prayer and thanksgiving, make our requests known to God. I find that we often dismiss the word ‘thanksgiving’ in this text, but it is of huge significance.

Look, if atheists are right, we have very good reasons to be anxious, but we know they're not. God is real and true hope comes from Him. Thanking God is our way of realigning our hearts with the reality that he is in control, that he provides, and that he cares for us.

While I was in university, I learned to seek God with an earnest heart and honestly, this changed my whole life. During this season, I really felt drawn to the idea of just thanking God. I would often go out on prayer walks and never ask for anything. I would simply thank God for all that he had done and all that he was doing. In my life, I found myself increasingly aware of His power and provision, and this produced a gratitude in me that simply made my requests seem less important.

As I've matured in my faith, I've made thanking God a crucial discipline, and I believe I've learned some critical aspects of gratitude that I believe are worth sharing.

So I want to share three with you.

The first is that being grateful is not a feeling but a choice.

Like all things that matter in life, we have to choose to do what is right. I rarely feel like working out, or being generous, and I certainly don’t feel like being grateful, but I have decided to be thankful.

I choose to recognize all that God has done for me and to acknowledge that with my words and with my attitude. Deciding is the horse that pulls the cart. This is a critical aspect of any spiritual discipline and, in particular, of gratitude.

Secondly, it's not enough to just think about it.

I really believe there is power in declaration. We sing worship songs in part as a way of declaring who God is and what he has done. I have seen that when I speak the truth, it is cemented in my heart.

When we speak out my gratitude to Him, it has a way of melting a spirit of complaining that can take hold of me. I can think well, I feel grateful. Isn't that enough? In my experience, it's not. We have to speak it out loud, and when we do, it has a profound impact on how I feel and how I live.

Thirdly and finally, gratitude grows.

As I have matured in the spiritual discipline of thanksgiving, I've seen growth in this area of my life. My view of God has increased, my understanding of His faithfulness has deepened and I'm a better steward of what God has given me. Being thankful started as a routine and has developed into a deep passion. Like a muscle, the more I've exercised it, the more it has grown.

We can often think it's just an organic thing that will happen, but the truth is, like I said, we have to decide - we have to speak it out loud, and over time it grows.

As I reflect on my life and all that I've been given, my sense of gratitude continues to deepen. I'm convinced that, far more than just a polite social behavior, gratitude - being thankful - indicates that we truly understand who God is and what he has done for us.

And so, daily, I choose to be thankful when I feel it. I choose to be thankful when I don't feel it, and I choose to be thankful until I feel it, because in light of what Jesus has done for me, I better be grateful.

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