To be grateful...

News headlines. Messy relationships. Personal failures. Dear friends, it's no wonder we're depressed. We're losing sight of our inheritance, focusing on the crumbling things of earth instead of the "eternal weight of glory." (2 Corinthians 4:17) We are made of finite dust, but we have been made in His image for His infinite purpose. What purpose?

2 Corinthians 7-10

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. 
We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,
that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 

So if our purpose is to show others that it's God's power and not our own that prevents us from being crushed, in despair, forsaken, destroyed....if our purpose is to manifest Jesus in our bodies, then it is essential that our posture reflect REMEMBRANCE of who God is and what he has done.

To be grateful is to be conscious of and thankful for God's daily blessings and faithfulness.

To remember that He is good and that His gifts are good. James 1:17 says, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." If we are to look more like Christ, we must be acutely aware when we wake up and when we lie down to sleep that though we are dead in a dying world, we have life abundant in us, dwelling richly and fully, because of Jesus Christ.

So what are you grateful for? Tell us in the comments below. Don't just list items. Dig deeper than that. What heals your soul? What quiets your heart? Why? What need is God meeting in those areas of your life? Is He trying to send you a personal love message through those things? What is He saying to you?