What Does It Mean to Have Radical Gratitude? - Daily Hope with Rick Warren - October 4, 2022, Daily Hope with Rick Warren - Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Pastor Rick Warren

What Does It Mean to Have Radical Gratitude? - Daily Hope with Rick Warren - October 4, 2022

October 04, 2022

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What Does It Mean to Have Radical Gratitude?
By Rick Warren

“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NIV)

The more deeply you understand God’s love, the more grateful you will become.

In fact, the Bible says that gratitude should saturate your life: “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18 NIV).

Notice that the Bible says to give thanks in all circumstances, not for all circumstances. There is a big difference!

You don’t have to be thankful for the bad things that happen in your life. Not everything that happens in the world is God’s will. In fact, most of the time, God’s will is not done here on Earth; instead, people’s will is done.

There’s a lot of evil in the world, and you don’t need to thank God for that. But you can thank God in the midst of it.

In my own life, I’ve learned that I can thank God in every circumstance. Here are some reasons why:

God is in control.
God can bring good out of evil.
God can turn even my mistakes into something that works out well; he can bring good out of them.
I won't live on Earth forever; I'm going to heaven one day."
I can’t lose my salvation.
No matter what happens, God isn’t going to stop loving me.

The truth is that I could think of a hundred reasons to be thankful in any circumstance, even circumstances that seem horrible.

Look again at 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NIV). It says you should give thanks to God “in all circumstances.” The Greek word used is the word pos, which means any, all, everything, anyone, all the time, anywhere, everywhere, the whole thing. It means no exception, no excuses, no exemptions.

That seems pretty radical, doesn’t it? That’s why it’s radical gratitude.

It doesn’t take any effort to be grateful for the nice present someone just gave you. Anyone can do that. But being grateful in all circumstances takes radical gratitude.

People say they want to know God’s will. They want to know what God wants them to do with their lives. In 1 Thessalonians 5:18, God makes that very clear: “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (NIV).

Giving thanks in all situations is God’s will for you. And the more thankful you are, the closer you’ll get to God!

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About Pastor Rick Warren

As founding pastor of Saddleback Church with his wife Kay, Dr. Rick Warren leads a 30,000-member congregation in California with campuses in major cities around the world. As an author, his book The Purpose Driven Life is one of the best-selling nonfiction books in publishing history. It has been translated into 90 languages and sold more than 50 million copies in multiple formats. As a theologian, he has lectured at Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, University of Judaism, and dozens of universities and seminaries. As a global strategist, he advises world leaders and has spoken to the United Nations, US Congress, Davos Economic Forum, TED, Aspen Institute, and numerous parliaments.

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