On my office desk sits a wooden plaque. It says simply, “Grace, grit, & gratitude.” I’ve called it my motto for this season of my life. I want to live life with lots of grace, a little grit, and loads of gratitude. I don’t always—maybe not even often—but I want to.
Some of us young people (okay, I’m preaching to myself here) lack these three things in our lives. Rather than seeking grace, we look within ourselves for the strength we need in life. Inevitably, we come up short. This causes us to then lack grit. Rather than enduring challenges, we wither and wilt in the heat of the day. We seek safe-spaces, telling ourselves that we “deserve” to indulge and pamper ourselves. As a result of this attitude, we miss out on gratitude. What do we have to be thankful for when we feel that the whole world is slanted against us? Whom do we have to be thankful to when we have only looked within ourselves for the strength and the answers? The current culture foists this mindset and lifestyle on us at every turn—through entertainment, social media, advertisements, and public education. And it is not doing any of us a service.
In contrast with the culture’s mindset and lifestyle, the Bible gives us a better way. The Bible says that we can have all the grace, grit, and gratitude that we need in life. Let’s look at what that means.
Live with lots of Grace. Jesus said, “without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5) and yet how often do we live as if it’s all up to us. Our current culture pumps us with messages like, “You got this!” and “You can do anything you put your mind to.” While it is incredible the things that human mind and strength can accomplish, our mind and our strength come from God as a gift. The moment we forget that our minds and bodies are on loan from our Creator, we stand on a precipice. When we think that our mind and our strength is enough for life’s challenges, we enter a world of stress, anxiety, and self-destruction.
However, humble acceptance of our mind and strength as a gift from God and dependence on Him to multiply what He has given unleashes grace on our lives. Grace is simply God’s unmerited favor and undeserved help. James 4:6 says, “But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.” While we may run out of brain power and energy, God never runs out of grace! He gives more grace. We can access that grace through humility. Rather than looking within ourselves for the strength and answers we need, we must look up to our Creator, Savior, Father, and Sustainer. Verse 10 says, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” When we stop trying to promote ourselves, and lean on the Lord instead, He will lift us up. We can’t live on our strength alone. We have to live on lots of God’s grace every day!
Not only do we need to live on grace, but we also need to live graciously. We need to give others the grace that has been given to us. We need to speak the truth, but we should do it graciously. Colossians 4:6 says, “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” The humility that allowed us to access God’s grace will also allow us to show kindness and mercy to other people. Humility realizes that we are all on equal footing before God, that we are all in this trek called life together, and that no one is any more worthy of God’s favor and help than another. God gives grace to us so that He can also give grace through us. Life can be hard. Grace goes a long way!
Live with Grit. Now, just because we have access to God’s grace does not mean that we will never feel challenged. God offers a grace-filled life, not a problem-free life. If life were problem-free, then there would be no need for grace, right? Yet the challenge is also what makes life so worthwhile. We are not just offered access to grace, we are called to grow in grace (2 Peter 3:18)! The challenge helps us grow more into the person that God created us to be—a person that reflects Jesus Christ. And that requires a little grit.
According to Merriam-Webster grit is “firmness of mind or spirit: unyielding courage in the face of hardship or danger.” Some synonyms are “backbone, fortitude, pluck, or spunk.” Grit begins in the mind or spirit. Grit is when you determine ahead of time that you are going to stay the course, come what may. One Bible character that exemplified grit is Daniel. In Daniel 1:8, the Bible says that “Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself.” In other words, Daniel determined ahead of time that, come what may, he would stay the course God had laid before him. And we know that a lot came his way! But Daniel never veered off the course. Why? Because he had grit. The question we need to ask ourselves is: “Are we determined to stay the course God has laid before us, or do we have a plan B in the back of our minds?” As long as another option lingers in the back of our minds, we will not have the character that life requires of us. When our character—faith, honesty, temperance, or patience—is tested, grit is what will determine whether we pass that test or not. As Proverbs 24:10 says, “If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.” Our strength isn’t worth much if it wilts the moment we actually need to use it! Only grit—a mind made up to stay the course—will allow us to pass those tests. Our intentions will be meaningless without grit. God’s grace will be wasted unless we have determined ahead of time that we will stay the course—unless we have grit.
Live with loads of Gratitude. Along with grace and grit, we need a large dose of gratitude. We have talked about how life can be challenging. But the fact is that life is also filled with God’s beauty, abundance, and blessing. Creation testifies to His creativity, wisdom, and power. The fact that we are breathing today testifies to His mercy and longsuffering. As Lamentations 3:22 says, “It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed.” Our Creator has given us the ability to know Him, to love Him and to have a relationship with Him—the God of the Universe! God has also given us simple pleasures like food, family, furry companions, and sunny days. None of these are accidents; they are blessings from the Father of lights (James 1:17). As Christians, we can enjoy the simple pleasures of this life and endure the hardships of this life, knowing that we have eternal life. It doesn’t end here. It only gets better for eternity! The good and bad we experience in this life is nothing compared with the good that is waiting for us in heaven (Romans 8:18). This is what Jesus meant when He said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10) He meant that this life is just the beginning of real life, the perfect life to come.
With this in mind, it only makes sense that gratitude should be a permanent fixture of our lives. Philippians 4:4 tells us to, “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.” At face value, this seems like an impossible command. How can we rejoice in disease, in heartbreak, in loss, in disappointment? Well, the good news is that the Bible doesn’t command us to rejoice in any of those things! We can and should rejoice during those things, but they are not the focus of our rejoicing. Notice, Philippians 4:4 doesn’t say rejoice in your circumstances, your abilities, or your possessions. While we should certainly count our blessings, this command is to rejoice in the Lord. This is the command because there is always a reason to rejoice in the Lord, in who He is and what He has done and does do for us.
In the Bible, the focus of gratitude is always the Lord. Psalm 97:12 says, “Rejoice in the LORD, ye righteous; And give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.” The psalmist’s rejoicing is because of who God is—His holiness. Isaiah 29:19 says, “The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.” Even those without material wealth can rejoice because the focus of their rejoicing is in the Lord. Habakkuk 3:18 says, “Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” In the verses prior to this one, the prophet is describing the desperate circumstances that are coming. God is sending His judgment on a rebellious people through captivity. Yet even in these dire circumstances, the prophet Habakkuk had gratitude. He wasn’t rejoicing in bad circumstances. Habakkuk could not rejoice in the desolate fig tree, the fruitless vines, the failing olive, the dried-up fields, or scattered livestock. Amidst changing circumstances, Habakkuk was rejoicing in the LORD, whose character and attributes never change.
Gratitude is the reasonable response of a life put in proper perspective. When we realize that we are just specks of dust in the span of time and eternity, when we realize that we all naturally deserve eternal separation from God, when we realize that anything good that we have or that we are is from God, our hearts swell with gratitude. When my mentality is that I don’t really deserve anything, then I am not as easily disappointed when life doesn’t work out the way I wanted or thought it should. When I don’t feel entitled to anything, the blessings God sends feel like a cherry on top of an ice cream Sunday. To be perfectly honest, sometimes “live with loads of gratitude” is easy enough to say when “life is going well.” But if we grasp the concept of rejoicing when life is good, then we will still be able to live with loads of gratitude when it isn’t so good. Practice gratitude now, so that gratitude can carry you through in whatever season you find yourself.
We can live the life God gave us to the fullest! While it is true that life can be “hard,” God has given us eternal life and it only gets better from here. Yes, life on this earth is short, but this one is just the warm up for the real life to come. So, let’s make this one count by living with grace, grit, and gratitude every day.