An Aura of Gratitude

Post written by Raymund and Denielle Tamayo

Have you ever gone out to lunch every Monday with a person who always talked about his problems?

Not asking for help or advice, but just whining and complaining about everything in his life that did not meet his expectations.

How about if you spent time with this person not just every noon on Mondays, but every lunch, every day? How stressed do you think you would be?

That’s how ingratitude affects people.

It’s like a leech slowly sucking our happiness blood right out of us.

As followers of Christ, gratitude is more than a good idea.

Aside from being a direct command from God (1 Thessalonians 5:18), it is an instinct God placed in us as His children.

In Luke 17:11-19, Jesus healed ten lepers and commanded them to “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so as the ten went on their way, they were healed.

As the story goes, only one from the ten who were healed returned and thanked the Lord.

Jesus didn’t command the ten to return and thank Him after they were healed. But one of them realized that instinct to come back and worship the Master.

We should be aware of the same.

Gratitude is the key to a stress-free life.

Gratitude honors God and strengthens our faith. Not only it strengthens our relationship with the Lord, it improves our relationship with other people as well.

Gratitude and appreciation shows our humility. When we are unappreciative, we always think of life from the attitude of what we deserve.

That’s arrogance and selfishness.

What we deserve is hell (Romans 6:23). But God gave His only Son to save us from what we all deserved.

That’s something to be thankful for every day.

An Aura of Gratitude

Having an Aura of Gratitude attracts the right emotions, the right people, and the right opportunities.

Talking about your Red Sea moments, remembering the times when the Lord has provided, the restorations and resurrections that happened in your life, gives us an aura that will make other people find peace in our company.

In other words, it’s the peace and presence of God radiating from our lives.

People will find it easy and relaxed to be with us. They would want more of our companionship and friendship.

They will find comfort, strength, and renewal just hanging out, not only because of our words but the actions that we do.

Have an Aura of Gratitude. Cultivate a spirit of thankfulness that honors God in our words and deeds. Be a blessing and not a burden.

Appreciate the things that God has gifted us. If we focus enough, we will recognize them no matter how mundane or small.

Talk about those things. Remember those things. All for the glory of God.

“Don’t complain when you’re in bad circumstances; cultivate a heart of thankfulness instead. If you’re not a thankful person, it’s because you think you deserve better circumstances than those you currently have. But if you got what you deserved, you’d be in hell. That goes for all of us. So be thankful for whatever God gives you. That will take all the sourness out of your life.” —John MacArthur