“In everything give thanks.”

(1 Thessalonians 5:18 – NASB)

God calls us to be thankful, grateful people. When we follow His command to “give thanks in all things,” we benefit. Bitterness and cynicism are unrooted from our hearts. It’s easy for us to think that the unhappiness in people leads them to have a complaining spirit. But I would suggest that it is truer to say: consistent complaining leads to unhappiness.

In other words, becoming a grateful person will result in us being much happier. Joy is the long-term by-product of daily, consistent expressions of thanksgiving and gratitude.

Here are a few quotes on gratitude, thanksgiving – and the link they have to happiness.

“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.” (Colossians 2:6-7 – NASB)

“No amount of regret changes the past.
No amount of anxiety changes the future.
Any amount of grateful joy changes the present.”
(Ann Voskamp)

“When someone continually talks about how happy they are, I tend to doubt them; but when they talk about how grateful they are, I know they have found happiness.” (Rob Hawkins)

“It’s one thing to be grateful. It’s another to give thanks. Gratitude is what you feel. Thanksgiving is what you do.” (Tim Keller)

“Undeniable guilt,
plus undeserved grace,
should equal unbridled gratitude.”
(Nancy Leigh DeMoss)

“Seek… to cultivate a buoyant, joyous sense of the crowded kindnesses of God in your daily life.” (Alexander Maclaren – 1826-1910)

“Keep your own happiness journal. Record God’s evident goodness around you every day. You’ll find that in time, you’ll see more and more gifts from him – not because there are more, but because you’re finally seeing what has been there all along.” (Randy Alcorn)

“Ultimately, in his essence, Satan is an ingrate. And he sinks his venom into the heart of Eden. Satan’s sin becomes the first sin of all humanity: the sin of ingratitude… Our fall was, has always been, and always will be, that we aren’t satisfied in God and what He gives.” (Ann Voskamp)

“If only we could see our situation clearly. We deserve expulsion; he [God] gives us a diploma. We deserve the electric chair; he gives us a parade. Anything less than overwhelming gratitude would be unthinkable. He owes us nothing. We own him everything. ‘Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?’ (Romans 11:35 – NIV), The answer is: nobody.”(Randy Alcorn)

“The person who has chosen to make gratitude his or her mind-set and lifestyle can view anything – anything! – through the eyes of thankfulness. The whole world looks different when we do.” (Nancy Leigh DeMoss)

“Once we experience thanksgiving as our default condition, we’ll find it’s inseparable from our happiness, and we’ll never want to go back to the barren wasteland of ingratitude.” (Randy Alcorn)

“No matter what our circumstances, we can find a reason to be thankful.” (David Jeremiah)

“It is only with gratitude that life becomes rich!”
(Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

“He is richest who is content with the least, for contentment is the wealth of nature.” (Socrates)

“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)

“One of the clearest descriptive phrases of sinful mankind (according to Romans 1), is they are “ungrateful” or “do not give thanks.” This is another reason why it is so important that we as parents raise our children to always be thankful and grateful (as opposed to complaining or griping) – as if life owes them something – as they journey through this world.
You will always find gratitude at the heart of happy, mature, godly people. The average westerner lives better than 99.4 percent of all the human beings who have ever lived. Knowing that we are better off than nearly every other human who has ever lived should inspire… a daily prayer of thanksgiving, not a sense of dread. And it should prompt us to generosity, rather than a desire for more.” (Chuck Colson)

“Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.” (1 Timothy 6:17‐19 – NASB)

“O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!”
(Psalm 30:12 – ESV)