Ten: Week Eight

The Eighth Commandment – Gratitude

God gave us the Ten Commandments to teach us about relationships, relationships with Him and with other people. We’ll study this eighth commandment by examining: 

1. What the Eighth Commandment is and the Principle of Gratitude.
2. Some definitions of stealing.
3. Four words that will change your life.
4. How to be grateful for what God has given you and the life He’s chosen for you.

• In the Eighth Commandment, God tells us that “You shall not steal,” which brings us to The Principle of Gratitude. 

In Exodus 20:15, God warns us to not to steal, and the principle behind this commandment is The Principle of Gratitude.

After 430 years of slavery and 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, Moses led the Israelites to the Promised Land. They were incredibly poor, and God knew they would face a desire to steal from each other.

• Here are some definitions of stealing.

Anytime you improve your situation by taking someone else’s stuff, you’re stealing.

Anytime you deceive someone for personal gain, you’re stealing.

When you take what belongs to God, you’re stealing.

– Tithe means one-tenth, and the word ten represents a test all though the Bible.

• Four words that can change your life: God owns it all!

God asks us to show our trust and gratitude by returning 10% to Him.

In Malachi 3:8, the Israelites were trying to rob God by not giving Him their tithe. 

In 1 Chronicles 29:14, King David gives us two lessons.

1. We don’t realize that everything we have comes from God.

2. We don’t understand that God distributes to each of us as He decides.

If you miss those simple truths from David, you’ll never be grateful for what God has given you.

• Are you grateful for all that God has given you and for the life that He’s chosen for you?

How do we cultivate a grateful heart? Here are three specific ways:

1. We need to learn to be grateful for imperfect gifts.

    – If we wait for perfect gifts, we’ll never be grateful at all.

2. We need to learn to be grateful in times of anxiety and frustration.

    – Gratitude often comes in the midst of pain and suffering, or it usually doesn’t come at all. 

    -C.S. Lewis wrote, “God whispers to us in our pleasure, but shouts in our pain.”

3. We need to develop the discipline of noticing.

    – If you’ll take the time, you’ll discover that you have a lot more to be grateful for than you realize. Thank God for all these blessings.

The difference between people isn’t the circumstances we go through or what we have and don’t have. The difference between people is how we deal with where God takes us on this journey called life.