What do you think is the opposite of gratitude? Do you think it’s ingratitude?

I think I’ve been getting it all wrong. Just yesterday on Day 23 I suggested that reciprocity might be the greatest enemy of thankfulness.

Then I spoke with a counselor friend of mine. We talked about the root system of sin in our lives and how we tend to just pull off the leaves and leave the roots untouched. 

If you have an area of sin in your life that’s affected you for years or decades, it’s likely there’s a deep root system with many emotions connected to it. Gardners know it’s hard work to unroot noxious weeds. How much more so, the noxious sin patterns in our lives?!

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Kingdom Business Summit

If you're an entrepreneur or business owner focused on advancing the kingdom through your business, I encourage you to attend the Kingdom Business Summit put on by Wez Hone.

When you receive a gift do you feel compelled to reciprocate? When you give a gift do you also expect something in return? If we’re honest, reciprocity can undermine our gratefulness.

Today we are studying why reciprocity might actually be the enemy of gratitude.

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Kingdom Business Summit

If you're an entrepreneur or business owner focused on advancing the kingdom through your business, I encourage you to attend the Kingdom Business Summit put on by Wez Hone.

Ever wake up and just want to roll back over? Being thankful seems like the last thing on your mind when you’re lying sick in bed or overwhelmed by the circumstances of life.

But that’s exactly when we need to be thankful.

Top Ten Reasons to be Thankful (even if you don’t feel like it)

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Kingdom Business Summit

If you're an entrepreneur or business owner focused on advancing the kingdom through your business, I encourage you to attend the Kingdom Business Summit put on by Wez Hone.

Have you ever been wrongly accused? Perhaps you’ve felt misunderstood or misjudged? I certainly have.

How do we move from feeling mistreated to expressing gratefulness? Let’s watch how that happens for David in Psalm 7.

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Kingdom Business Summit

If you're an entrepreneur or business owner focused on advancing the kingdom through your business, I encourage you to attend the Kingdom Business Summit put on by Wez Hone.

Are you thankful for your family? Even when they’re imperfect?

If we’re honest, families provide a mixed bag of blessings, negative memories, and curses. How are we supposed to be thankful for those who caused deep hurt in our lives?

I believe it’s possible to be deeply thankful for all the blessings of our families while remaining honest about the painful memories and even the ongoing hurt caused by our families.

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Kingdom Business Summit

If you're an entrepreneur or business owner focused on advancing the kingdom through your business, I encourage you to attend the Kingdom Business Summit put on by Wez Hone.

Do you remember your day of salvation? Has it become a faded memory or does it seem like yesterday?

In reflecting on the power of the gospel, we can find many reasons to be grateful. Today, I want to look specifically at the day God saved us.

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Kingdom Business Summit

If you're an entrepreneur or business owner focused on advancing the kingdom through your business, I encourage you to attend the Kingdom Business Summit put on by Wez Hone.

Have you adopted a child or were you adopted? I have many friends who adopted children because they couldn’t biologically have their own children. It’s one of the most powerful expressions of human love.

A mother and father accept a child who feels rejected by his birth parents and give him all the love and rights of natural children. It’s a profound decision that is costly (usually 10s of thousands of dollars), sacrificial, and life-changing.

And it doesn’t always go well. Adopted children sometimes grow to resent their adopted parents. Some come with trauma and illness requiring extensive treatment and extra measures of love.

The Christian parents I know who adopted children say it’s one of the single greatest things they ever did. They live with a constant reminder of God’s love.

You see, God adopted us. He now calls us sons and daughters. We can now call him Daddy. 

Our adoption shows us many reasons to be thankful. Let’s explore a few:

Mentioned in this episode:

Kingdom Business Summit

If you're an entrepreneur or business owner focused on advancing the kingdom through your business, I encourage you to attend the Kingdom Business Summit put on by Wez Hone.

Are you grateful to be alive? Have you had a near-death experience or lost a friend or family member prematurely?

How we process these experiences influences whether we become grateful or ungrateful people.

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Kingdom Business Summit

If you're an entrepreneur or business owner focused on advancing the kingdom through your business, I encourage you to attend the Kingdom Business Summit put on by Wez Hone.

Have you ever had something taken away that you thought you would have forever? How does that feel? Were you able to remain thankful after losing something you took for granted?

Our tendency to take things, relationships, or life for granted can lead to unthankfulness or resentment. However, it can also cause us to cherish life all the more. 

The choice is ours, sort of. Let’s explore why it’s easier to take things for granted than it is to be thankful at all times.

Mentioned in this episode:

Kingdom Business Summit

If you're an entrepreneur or business owner focused on advancing the kingdom through your business, I encourage you to attend the Kingdom Business Summit put on by Wez Hone.

Do you struggle to be grateful? Join the club. Most of us need to cultivate the habit of gratefulness. 

The Greater Good Science Center commissioned the Expanding Gratitude Project to fund 27 different projects to understand the power of gratitude. One researcher penned some of his results as Six Habits of Highly Grateful People. I liked his title but decided to see what habits I would notice in scripture. 

Let’s study two highly grateful believers to see what habits they share.

Mentioned in this episode:

Kingdom Business Summit

If you're an entrepreneur or business owner focused on advancing the kingdom through your business, I encourage you to attend the Kingdom Business Summit put on by Wez Hone.