When gratitude feels hard

This may sound unspiritual, but it’s true for many Christians: Despite everything God has done for us, sometimes we don’t feel all that blessed.

Have you felt this way? Maybe you’ve experienced health problems, financial hardship, or personal heartache. You see people wearing T-shirts that say “Blessed” and praising God for all the good things in their lives, and you ask, Where are my blessings, God? All I see are problems. Am I supposed to be happy about that?

If you’re struggling to find joy and contentment in your circumstances right now, I can say with certainty that you’re not alone. We all have struggles in this life.

But the Bible teaches that we can be content no matter the difficulties we’re facing—as long as we search for contentment in the right place. In Matthew 11:28, Jesus said, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”

A content person finds satisfaction in their relationship with Christ.

Is that even possible? In the life of the apostle Paul, we see that contentment is possible, but it has to be learned. Paul wrote in Philippians 4:11, “I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.”

When Paul penned those words, he was in prison facing his potential death. The churches he had founded were being influenced by false teachers. His critics were maligning him because of his imprisonment.

Yet he was able to write, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!” (v. 4). Paul was not a natural-born optimist, but he had learned the secret of contentment.

Let me share with you two practical ways you can learn that same secret of contentment:

1. Make it a habit to express gratitude to God regularly. It’s impossible for discontent and gratitude to exist in the same heart at the same time. Either discontent will extinguish your gratitude, or gratitude will extinguish your discontent. Which one will you choose today?

2. Adopt a life purpose that is bigger than yourself. Before Paul became a Christian, he struggled with contentment. He tried to rise up the ranks of the Pharisees’ organizational chart. But in Christ, Paul found a purpose that was greater than himself, and this allowed him to view his imprisonment differently. He wrote, “My circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel . . . Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice” (1:12, 18).

If Paul’s life purpose had been peace, prosperity, pleasure, or the avoidance of pain, then his imprisonment would have been a tremendous tragedy. But Paul knew that God had left him on earth for one reason: to share Christ with as many people as possible. This purpose gave Paul a whole new prism through which to view his difficult circumstances.

You will never be content with your present situation until you have a life purpose that is bigger than yourself.

No matter what your circumstances are right now, Jesus invites you to find rest and contentment in the One who has provided everything you need in this life.

As Paul wrote Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”