7 Ways Gratitude Can Change Your Life

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It’s the little things that make the difference. Although we in the Christian community tend to focus on the “big three” of faith, hope, and love – we would do well to pay a little more attention to gratitude. It doesn’t tend to get nearly the press of some of the other attributes, and doesn’t get much attention at all except for around the end of the year. But gratitude can change your life, and change it in a big way. It finds a way to alter your perspective on your surroundings, and change the way you process everything around you, even the tragedies that befall all of us. We need a regular, heaping dose of gratitude in our minds and hearts if we’re going to withstand the barrage of wickedness we find ourselves in. Read on to find out nine ways gratitude can effectively and eternally change your life – for good.

It will help you praise God.

Have you ever been in a dry spell? You know the kind, it’s the sort that most of us believers really don’t like to talk about so much, but affects us all. It’s those times when we know we should offer praise to God, but when we look inside our hearts, we can’t quite think of anything worth praising. Worship starts to seem like eating brussel sprouts. You know you should do it, but can’t do so with any sincerity or anticipation. Gratitude can change all of that. You won’t be able to stop thanking God for all that you are grateful for – and as the Psalmist says, “Enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart, enter his courts with praise”.

It will humble you.

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What would happen if we were to lay all of the things in our life out in front of us? Not just our gadgets and gizmos, but every relationship, every good thing we have? We would be overwhelmed. We’d be straight up gobsmacked by the weight of it that we would be humbled in hurry. Gratitude is a gateway to humility. It helps us remember that we have been given (and will continue to get) so much from a loving Father, we have no choice but to be humbled. Any sane person would have to be humbled by the gratuitous generosity of the God. If you’re like me, and you know you could use an extra slice of humble pie, then perhaps gratitude should be number one on your “to-do” list.

Be grateful for all you have.

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If we believe everything the advertisers and mainstream media is telling us, we always need to have more. We should be dissatisfied with the status of our net worth, our jobs, our loved ones and everything else. If we’re dissatisfied, then we’ll be more likely to buy their product and then everything will be fine and dandy again. But the still small voice within us has a different message. “Be grateful” it says, “Your cup overflows” it whispers. If we approach our life from a perspective of lack, then we will never be happy – no matter how many good things come our way, we will always be focused on what we don't have. But stopping to smell the roses in our live is not only more enjoyable, but it’s more effective at living the fullest life God has for us right now.