November 7, 2013

"When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves." Genesis 3:6-7

After spending several days studying Adam and Eve I want to distill it down to one simple truth:

Gratitude = God focused

Greed = self-focused

Thankful people are God focused people as opposed to dissatisfied unhappy people whose lives are self-focused.

I think that is obvious from the reading of this tragic story of the Fall.

Gratitude and greed are the flip sides of the same coin.

When Adam and Eve walked with their lives centered on Him, they enjoyed contentment and satisfaction. When their will was surrendered to His will they lived in the wonder of His presence. When they found their pleasure in pleasing Him, they reaped all the joys of Paradise. As long as God was their chief desire, He filled their life with delight. When they kept focused on all their blessings from God they lived in humble gratitude.

But something happened one day in the Garden! There was trouble brewing in Paradise!

Did they begin to take their perfect fellowship with God for granted?

Did they let their thoughts drift toward curiosity about the Tree of Life?

Did they allow a wrong desire to creep into their spirit? 

Whatever the cause, the first couple wandered carelessly close to the forbidden tree. Once they were close to the Tree they were within range for the Tempter. And because they had allowed their focus to drift away from God and onto their fleshly desires they were susceptible to the tempting offer.When it was given they willfully disobeyed.

Could it be that gratitude is the most basic of all the Christian attitudes?

Is it possible that ingratitude, or greed, is the root cause of sin?

Think about it.

When Adam and Eve remained grateful they remained holy, but then they got a little greedy.....

November 6, 2013

"Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it." Genesis 3:1-6

What do you think our world would look like today if Adam and Eve would have been more grateful and less greedy?

Do you think they would have given into greedy thoughts if their minds had been occupied with grateful thoughts?

How many of your troubles can be traced to being led down the wrong path by your greedy desires?

Would you have those greedy desires if it were not for Adam and Eve?

Would you make better decisions if you were controlled by gratitude rather than greed?

Interesting questions don't you think?

But this blog is more interested in practical solutions than in theoretical questions and the fact is Adam and Eve sinned by disobeying God and their lack of gratitude was a contributing factor to that sin.

Here are some insights and observations from their "original sin":

1) Gratitude is evidence of humility

When Adam and Eve walked humbly with God they enjoyed Paradise in every aspect of their lives.

2) Gratitude is evidence of honesty

When Adam and Eve walked humbly with God His wisdom gave them clear understanding of truth. Walking with God gave them an honest view of God and of themselves.

3) Gratitude is evidence of harmony

Walking with God every day and talking with Him was what they were created to do! He created them to share His love and His life. Before they strayed too close to the Tree, they enjoyed a glorious oneness with their Creator.

4) Gratitude is evidence of holiness

Adam and Eve were holy when then walked with God because holiness is loving God completely and obeying Him perfectly. Until they became greedy for power and knowledge.

So let's review:

Greed led to disobedience and rebellion.

Gratitude led to humility, honesty, harmony and holiness.

There is tremendous power in a thankful spirit!

Which attitude dominates your thinking?

November 5, 2013

"Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it." Genesis 3:1-6

Who do you think should have been the most thankful people in the history of mankind?

My answer would be Adam and Eve!

After all, they lived in Paradise!

But as you are painfully aware, they lost their attitude of gratitude. Understanding how it happened is crucial to understanding why you struggle with ingratitude. Even though history has changed, human nature has not!

Let me first make this basic statement - gratitude is the foundational attitude. Thankfulness is the result of believing truth and ingratitude results from being deceived by a lie. 

The lie Adam and Eve allowed to deceive them was the notion that contentment is "out there somewhere"!

Imagine being able to walk with God IN PERSON every day in a perfect place like Eden! What could be better than that? No one has ever been more blessed than these two!

Do you think the God Who created Adam and then gave him Eve when He realized Adam had a need for human companionship would have denied Adam anything else he desired?

Of course He would have!

So how did they buy into this lie?

Apparently, they lost sight of the truth that God was their source and their substance. They forgot they were blessed and believed for less.

Haven't you found that when you forget you are blessed you settle for less? That has been my experience and it seems to be the case for the First Couple.

Also, they allowed themselves to doubt the character of God when the serpent impugned His character. When they allowed themselves to doubt God they were prone to believe the lie.

Learn from Adam and Eve!

Doubting God leads to dissatisfaction and dissatisfaction breeds ingratitude and ingratitude opens you up to being deceived.

If you are a child of God you are blessed! Desire more of Him. Don't settle for less!

November 4, 2013

"the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those who bring thank offerings to the house of the LORD, saying, "Give thanks to the LORD Almighty, for the LORD is good; his love endures forever." For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were before,' says the LORD." Jeremiah 33:11

Thankful people are happy people. There is no debating that.

But, the question is, "Are they happy because they are thankful or are they thankful because they are happy?"

Jeremiah gives us some insights into what it takes to become a thankful person.

First, be thankful for the goodness of God!

You have a choice. You can focus on the badness and unfairness of life, OR you can focus your life on the goodness of God. It is up to you. If you want to be sad and miserable all the time you can decry how unfair life is - because it is! Choose that disposition and your happy days will be few and far between.

However, if you are committed to the goodness of God you can ALWAYS be thankful because God is ALWAYS good! Thankful people understand that God is always better than the badness of life. God is bigger than the badness of life. In fact, God has promised to even make the badness of life into goodness!

Thankful people are focused on the goodness of God! They are always thankful because they understand that God is always good.

Secondly, thankful people are focused on the love of God.

Like the goodness of God, His love is a constant. Therefore, when you choose to be thankful for His love you can always be thankful! His love that sustained you through the unfairness and difficulties of yesterday will also sustain you through today - and tomorrow! Thank God! When Jeremiah wrote these truisms thousands of years ago, God's love was a constant. Now, centuries later, it is still true! And, centuries from now IT WILL STILL BE TRUE. How can you not be thankful for THAT!

Will you do this for God and for yourself today? Will you thank Him for His goodness and His love. Thank Him that these blessed characteristics are rooted in His eternal character! Will you make today the first day of a commitment to live in thankfulness for His goodness and His love?

You will be thankful you made that decision!

November 3, 2013

"Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." I Corinthians 15:55-58

We are extolling the virtues of thankfulness and examining its nature.

From this great portion of Scripture I want to make two points:

Thankfulness is God-centered and grace-conscious. Those are both very good things!

"Thanks be to God......"

Obviously, you have to be thankful TO someone FOR something. True thanks should flow from you to God. If you believe that God is the Giver of all good things then all thanks is due Him.

You can be thankful to God for Who He is, a perfect, powerful and passionate Forever Heavenly Father. He knows you better than you know yourself and still He loves better than you love yourself. If you need Someone like that in your life, be thankful. If you need to be loved like that, be thankful.

"He gives us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Be thankful for the gift of God which is His Son, Jesus Christ, Who came to be our Savior. God offers to us His best when we were at our worst. God, essentially said, "I'll give you My Son in exchange for your sins." If you can use a deal like that, be thankful.

Also, you can be thankful for the grace of God. This is the attitude within the heart of God that motivated Him to offer us redemption, righteousness and resurrection from the dead through His Son, Jesus. Grace is defined as "God's undeserved favor toward us." If grace is important to you, be thankful. If you prefer to have God offer you His mercy in place of His justice, be thankful.

Although thankfulness is a 24/365 proposition, in this season of Thanksgiving I encourage you to be especially thankful to God for His grace and all that His grace means for you in this life and in the life to come.

In view of all that is ours in God and through grace is saying, "Thanks!" enough? It is a good place to begin.

November 2, 2013

"But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy." II Timothy 3:1-2

Wow! These few verses say a lot about the attitude of gratitude and what causes people to be thankful - or not thankful.

First, it tells us that the day will come when thankfulness will be a rare commodity. What was once a common courtesy will someday become hard to find.

That begs the question, "Why?"

People will be lovers of self. How does that blunt thankfulness? People who are self-centered tend to believe that they deserve what they get, so when they get something good they feel it was owed to them and when they don't they feel cheated. It is hard to satisfy them.

People will be lovers of money. What's wrong with that? Loving money often leads to greed. Greedy people seldom experience feelings of gratitude. Greed and gratitude rarely occupy the same space.

When selfishness and greed rule your life, you are not a very pleasant person - "boastful, proud, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy." May I add - unhappy, unfulfilled and miserable?

Thankful people, by implication, are not self-centered, not greedy, humble, obedient, grateful and holy.

So, are such people thankful because they possess these characteristics or do they have these characteristics because they are thankful? The answer is, "Yes!"

Make life about Him and not about you and He will develop within you an attitude of gratitude.

November 1, 2013

"...give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." I Thessalonians 5:18

One of the earliest lessons we learn as children is to say, "Please" and "Thank You". It is a simple concept, really.

Of course, we are taught to express our thanks whenever we are given something that is nice, or helpful, or valuable, or generous.

However, in this verse, the Apostle Paul instructs us to "give thanks in ALL circumstances". Say, what? Be thankful in "ALL circumstance"? Are you kidding me? How do I do that? Some circumstances are painful and hard and unwelcomed. Am I supposed to be thankful when stuff like that happens? Why is that?

Read the rest of the verse, "for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

Oh.

Here is the deal. We don't have to be thankful for difficult things that happen to us. Am I to be thankful that I lose a job, or my health, or a loved one? I don't think so! But, what we can be thankful for is that God is in control of our circumstances and He has promised that "all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose" and "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."

So, what we can be thankful for is that when troubles come it means that God is at work! Our pain is working for our gain because that is how God works, Who He is and what He does! Thank Him that even what works against us in life works for us because His Kingdom is coming and His will is being done - in us!