Devotion 2: Grumbling to Gratitude

January 28, 2025 5:00 AM
Lesson Four | Devotion 2: Grumbling to Gratitude  
Jeannie Yates 

When I hear that a pastor’s sermon is on giving, my first response is often negative. “I do not want to hear another talk about tithing.” “Can I just give God more of my time and call it good?” “This sermon really applies to that person over there; they have more money to give.” Do not get me wrong, I love to give. I love searching for the best Christmas or birthday gifts to give each person in my family. I love seeing their faces light up when they open the carefully chosen gift. However, there seems to be a shift in my heart when it comes to giving my money to God. 

Well, that is my problem: thinking that my money belongs to me. The Bible clearly says, “Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a house for your holy name comes from your hand and is all your own” (1 Chronicles 29:12, 16). It all comes from Him (see also Deuteronomy 10:14; Psalm 24:1; Colossians 1:16). My ability to do my job and earn money comes from Him. My every breath and heartbeat comes from God alone. If I have a little, it comes from God; if I have an abundance, it comes from God. What I really need is a heart adjustment. 

I have heard it said that grateful people are giving people. I like to think I am a pretty grateful person. I often say “thank you” when someone does something to serve or provide for me. I am even pretty good about writing thank-you notes after receiving birthday or Christmas gifts. I thank God for my family, the beautiful weather, and the food set before me, but my gratefulness often stops short when I begin to focus on what I am “lacking.” It is almost impossible for me to be grateful when I am grumbling. Gratitude quickly flees, and discontentment sets in. 

In Ephesians 5:15-20, we read, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is…Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” I love what the Bible commentator Kent Hughes says about these verses. He writes, “The fullness of the Spirit does call us to a radical spirit of gratitude… [it] rules out a grumbling, complaining, negative, sour spirit. No one can be Spirit-filled and traffic in these things. In America we, as a people, have so much. Yet, we characteristically mourn what we do not have: another’s house, car, job, vacation, even family! Such thanklessness indicates a life missing the fullness of the Holy Spirit.” 

Only when I make that heart adjustment and focus my gaze on Jesus can I turn my grumbling into gratitude. Choosing to give thanks in all things and for all things changes my perspective and allows me to give, not out of obligation, but as an act of worship to my Savior. 

In 2 Corinthians 9:7-8, we are told, “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.”  

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