This “little” Thing Makes a “BIG” Difference!

At the beginning of a new year many people are compelled to make resolutions in hopes of having a better year than last. While it’s said New Year’s resolutions are made to be broken, as believers we can have greater success when we partner with God for change. Psalm 37:5 says,

Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this:

We commit – He does it! This is God’s grace in action! As we lean on Him, He will help us to be strong in the areas of our weakness and bring true and lasting change to our lives.

Today, I wanted to share about a little thing that has the power to make a BIG difference in our lives.  It’s GRATITUDE.

Gratitude is a heart condition that affects our attitude and outlook on everything in life. It affects our relationship, the way feel and respond to pretty much everything, and even our relationship with the Lord. Gratitude is simply being thankful RIGHT NOW, RIGHT WHERE YOU’RE AT. How is this possible you ask, when there are so many things in life that are not as they should be? Well, gratitude doesn’t mean our lives are perfect, and in fact they never will be, so we can’t wait for perfection before we become grateful. Gratitude focuses on what IS GOOD in our lives RIGHT NOW, rather than what isn’t. Gratitude is a choice to focus on the good, while believing that God is ALWAYS at work, transforming the “not so good.” The Apostle Paul expresses this beautifully:

¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³ I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Philippians 4:12-13

I believe “the secret” Paul was talking about was a heart of gratitude. As we see in verse 13, his focus was on Jesus, and not his need. He was focused on the Need-Meeter, the Problem-Solver; the One who was at work in his life doing what only He could do. Gratitude and contentment are tied together with our faith, because our faith in God’s goodness empowers us to trust God to work out the “not so good” details of our life,  freeing us from worrying and grumbling over them. In other words, we know “God’s got this!” Gratitude is a life-changer.

In order to grow or change, we first need to recognized our need, and the truth is, many people don’t even realize they’re ungrateful. Here are some signs of an ungrateful heart that can be eye-opening to us:

Signs of an Ungrateful Heart:

1. Complaining – negative talk
2. Dwelling on what you don’t have or the negative in your life
3. Praying for more when you haven’t thanked God for what you have
4. Being critical – focusing on the negative in others
5. Not being a good steward over what God has given you – relationships, material things, the gifts and abilities God has given you etc..

Does this list surprise you? These may not even be things you consider when thinking of being ungrateful, but it’s important that each of us do regular check-ups on our heart and make the necessary course corrections to our lives with the Lord’s help.

A grateful person on the other hand, will show gratitude in their words and actions – Gratitude can be seen and heard. I love the story of the 10 Lepers. You can read it HERE, but most of us are familiar with it. 10 Lepers met Jesus and were miraculously healed! They all went on their way, but gratitude brought one man to a halt. He couldn’t go on his merry way, living life as he used to, because the overwhelming gratitude in his heart, compelled him to live differently. He came back to Jesus and this is what he did:

And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, ¹⁶ and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.

Luke 17:15-16

As you can see, this man’s gratitude was evident in his words and actions and something happened to him that the other 9 lepers didn’t experience.

¹⁷ So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? ¹⁸ Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” ¹⁹ And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

Luke 17:17-19

The word “well” in verse 19 is actually the word “sozo” and means so much more than we may realize. It’s God’s supernatural salvation and deliverance. It means this man wasn’t just healed on the outside, He was touched on the inside by the power of God. Isn’t this what we all desire? We don’t want band-aids on our boo boos, we want the power of God to transform our entire lives, starting with us on the inside – The way we see, think, feel; so that we can live totally different than we once did. Only God can do this, and as we see from this story, gratitude puts us in the position to experience God in this way. I can attest to this in my own life. Being ungrateful keeps us bound in misery, while gratitude sets us free to walk in joy and experience more of God. We don’t know what happened to the other 9 lepers. I wonder if they kept their healing, or if their ungrateful hearts led them right back into misery. We’ll never know for sure, but we do know for sure is how something as simple as gratitude transformed this one man’s life, and has the power to transform ours too.

I believe we can all grow in becoming more grateful, and gratitude is something we can cultivate the more we practice it. As we do, our hearts will be transformed and eventually gratitude will become a natural overflow in our lives. Here are a few things we can do to cultivate gratitude:

• Thank God every day for the blessings in your life
• Keep a gratitude journal and write down each day what you’re grateful for
• Dwell on the good things in your life and begin to steward them even better – enjoy them, care for them, cherish them
• Pray and ask the Lord to change you heart – this is a powerful prayer!
• Repent when you fall short and find yourself complaining, being critical and ungrateful – Remember God’s mercies are new every day – don’t give up. Rely on God’s grace – when you’re weak, His strength is perfected in you.

The more we practice gratitude, the more grateful our heart will become. Gratitude is a little thing, but it certainly makes a big difference! Like me, I pray you also make the commitment to be more grateful in 2021!

In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:18