Living for the KingdomSample

The salvation we freely receive from our Father should lead to overflowing gratitude, spilling over to bless others. ©2014 World Vision, Meg Sattler

A Heart Overflowing with Gratitude

One of the biggest hindrances in life is comparing ourselves to others. When we focus on keeping up with the Joneses, measuring ourselves against our colleagues, and impressing our peers, we lose compassion for others. And when we focus on what we don’t have, God can’t use what we do have.

That’s why the idea of adoption into God’s family is so important. The essence of the good news is that Jesus has made us children of the King: “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith” (Galatians 3:26, NIV). Children are loved unconditionally—and they love unconditionally.

We are God’s most treasured creation, in the same way that parents loves their children above all else.

Now when God looks at us, He doesn’t see our shortcomings. He doesn’t see our failures and our sins. He sees only His beloved children.

But it doesn’t stop there. Filled with the love of God, we can now love the world as He loves the world. We can see what God sees, care about what God cares about, and treasure what He treasures.

The epistle of 1 John says, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7, ESV). Our ability to demonstrate Jesus’ love for this world is directly related to our understanding of God’s love for us.

Since love comes from God and we freely receive it, shouldn’t our hearts pour out the same love to those around us in overflowing gratitude to God?

When asked what was the greatest commandment, Jesus said it was to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Then He said something interesting: that the second greatest commandment—that we should love our neighbors as ourselves—was like the first. (See Matthew 22:37-39.) Love for God and love for our neighbors are similar kinds of love.

Our neighbors include not only those in our communities, schools, workplaces, and churches, but also the poor, the sick, and the hurting. In our globally connected world, it becomes literally anyone or group that God places on your heart or puts in your path.

Can you imagine if God offered salvation only to those who were already perfect? We’d all be in bad shape. But we aren’t competing for God’s love; we are His children. So we share this love with our neighbors—all of our neighbors. Through this outward display of our inner gratitude, others get to experience the compassion of our God.