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Christlife Posture: Submitting to God's Love and Leading

Topic: Gratitude as a Mark of Submission

 

Suggested Approach: Choose 1 thing from each of the three boxes

OR Choose 1 from Media or Reflection + 1 from Scripture 

Media Excursions    (Watch/read/listen and be ready to discuss Q's)

Still Image/Painting

  • Ten Lepers (James C. Christensen) This painting is based on the story of the ten lepers in Luke 17:11-19.  How do you interpret this depiction of the one who returned to give thanks? Are there others who seem more thankful? What can gratitude look like?

Video Clips

  • Wonder Rush--Gratitude (Letters to the Exiles, Dr. Anthony Bradley) Do just what the clip suggests: write a letter of gratitude to someone who had an impact on your life. What was that like for you? Did you send it?

  • Wonder Rush-Eyes that See (Letters to the Exiles) How does this video challenge your perception of what you might find to express gratitude for?

Song

  • Blessed be Your Name (Matt Redman) Which lines of this song do you find most powerful? Can gratitude be both an overflow of the heart and an act of submission?  How does this song capture the discipline of gratitude?

Articles ​

  • The Discipline of Gratitude (John Terrill)  Why do you think gratitude should be considered a discipline? How has gratitude been linked to an understanding of how perfectly you are being loved by your heavenly Father?

  • How do we understand Blessing in an #Blessed era? (Paola Ortega) How do you see the progression she talks about in the uses of blessed, from holy to bragging or joking on Instagram? What do you think the line is between openly expressing gratitude for God’s gifts and implying that we deserve them (bragging)?

Video Teaching​

  • Be the Bee #87 | Give Thanks to the Lord (Y2AM)This video brings up a Greek term that is translated as someone “who has the deep happiness that comes from our faithful response to God’s blessings”.  How did you respond to the recounting of reasons to be grateful for the church? Some of the examples may be from a different faith tradition than yours, but which of them stood out to you as a way to practice gratitude? Is there anything keeping you from doing the short exercise he suggests?

Reflection Options  

Journal  (Reflect on one or more of these questions)

  • Henry Ward said, “God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say "thank you?"” Take some time to thank God for possessions, opportunities, people and spiritual blessings in your life.

  • What does gratitude to God stem from in your own life most often: a feeling, an attitude, a discipline, an observation or?  How have you experienced gratitude as a choice? How can it be an expression of submission to Christ?

  • Think of the most grateful person(s) you know.  Describe their attitude or ask them how much of their gratitude is feeling based versus something else.  What is their “something else”?

Quote Interaction (Interact by agreeing, disagreeing or otherwise engaging with the quote/quotes)

  • I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder. (G.K. Chesterton)

  • We ought to give thanks for all fortune: if it is good, because it is good, if bad, because it works in us patience, humility and the contempt of this world and the hope of our eternal country.  (C. S. Lewis)

  • A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves. (Henry Ward Beecher)

  • Gratitude is a handmaiden of contentment. An ever-growing attitude of gratitude will certainly make us more content since we will be focusing more on what we do have, both spiritually and materially, than on what we do not have. But contentment is more than focusing on what we have.  It is focusing on the fact that all we do have; we have by the grace of God.  (Jerry Bridges)

  • An evidence that our will has been broken is that we begin to thank God for that which once seemed so bitter, knowing that His will is good and that, in His time and in His way, He is able to make the most bitter waters sweet. (Nancy Leigh DeMoss)

  • Gratitude is an offering precious in the sight of God, and it is one that the poorest of us can make and be not poorer but richer for having made it. (A.W. Tozer)

Reading and Reflection from the book, Shaping The Journey of Emerging Adults: 

  • Read the story of Lee and Jim (pp. 117-119).  How might choosing to reflect with gratitude together as they moved forward facilitate surrender to the Father for them both?

  • Read Rick’s “But you’re not acting like a leader” story in Chapter 2 (pp. 45-46). Note the things Rick expresses thankfulness for.  Does his thankfulness flow from feelings or from a submissiveness to the Lord or both? How can you tell?

Explore Scripture

Meditate on one or more of the following passages. Always look them up in context.  Take some time to really explore the verse in relation to this topic.  Make note of what you learn about gratitude as a mark of submission to the Lord. What is your understanding of the origins or attitudes of gratitude from these passages?  Make a note of what you discover to share later.  See "Learn More About Ways to Study Scripture" below for help in getting the most out of the verse.

  • Psalm 50:14

  • Psalm 103

  • Lamentations 3:19-33

  • Matthew 5:3-12

  • Luke 17:11-19

  • 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

  • Ephesians 5:18-20

  • Colossians 3:15-17

  • Hebrews 13:10-16

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