00:07gratitude and the art of living my mom worked hard to raise my brother and me
00:12in addition to doing all the usual mom stuff she worked at an insurance office and made just enough
00:19to buy our groceries we couldn't afford fruit loops cereal with the toucan mascot but we were
00:25able to buy say fruity hoops with the little monkey guy and they were almost as good my brother and
00:32i
00:32were caught up in our own worlds and we didn't thank her enough i remember how she'd get fed up
00:38with us occasionally she'd say you know what darren and brant i wouldn't mind hearing thank you once
00:45in a while she felt unappreciated and she needed to be thanked totally understandable so does god feel
00:54that way unappreciated and is that why the bible is so chock full of commands to give thanks and be
01:00thankful and all that the answer and i've gleaned this from the finest most astute sophisticated
01:07theological minds in history no no god does not need to be thanked god needs nothing he's fine
01:16thanks the be grateful thing that's for us and it must be important for us too the greek word for
01:23gratitude gets 157 mentions in the new testament it's not a subtle theme god wants us to be grateful
01:33because he wants us to thrive yes there are people who will urge you to be ungrateful they'll give you
01:40reasons to focus on what you lack or reasons to harbor anger and resentment perhaps they are threatened
01:47by your gratitude they may accuse you of naivete here we are in a world awash with anger and anxiety
01:55and god wants us to be thankful yes because we live in a world awash in anger and anxiety
02:02because we need the peace that comes from thanking god no matter what's happening around us check out
02:08first thessalonians 5 verse 18 give thanks in all circumstances for this is god's will for you in
02:16christ jesus notice it doesn't say for all circumstances this isn't toxic positivity and refusing to take
02:25needed action in life it's about living a life in constant awareness of the goodness of god no matter
02:32what why is it god's will for us to do this to give thanks in all circumstances he loves us
02:39everything
02:40he tells us is for our own good god created us he's the original artist he made us in his
02:48image and the
02:49art of living originated with him i love this from pastor and author douglas webster at the corner of
02:57bloor and avenue roads in downtown toronto there was a sign just before the church of the redeemer
03:03that read discover the art of living as one walked west on bloor it appeared to be a sign for
03:09the
03:09church it was not it was an advertisement for a new luxury condominium being built next door
03:16the sign captured the wisdom of the age the art of living is knowing where to live in a luxury
03:22condo
03:23not how to live gratitude is a central theme in scripture because it's central to the art of
03:29living a truly thriving human is a grateful human thank you lord for telling us so many times
03:37in so many ways to be thankful
