Last week, we discussed gratitude and how important it is to God that we live with grateful hearts. This week we’ll continue this theme with a focus on the health benefits of expressing gratitude.
We’ll use the same verse we used last week, which is from Thessalonians 5:18,
Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
In preparing for our lesson today, I searched the phrase “health benefits of being grateful”. There are many examples but, for this lesson, I’ll focus on an article from Psychology Today titled 7 Scientifically Proven Benefits of Gratitude. This is not a Christian publication, but I’m going to try to tie the article together with our verse for today. I believe that God designed our hearts, minds, and bodies to be healthier when we express gratitude, as explained below.
The article includes these seven scientifically proven benefits of giving thanks:
- More relationships — thanking a new acquaintance makes them more likely to seek an ongoing relationship.
- Improved psychological health
- Improved physical health
- Enhanced empathy and reduced aggression
- Improved sleep
- Improved self-esteem
- Mental strength
Can you think of another singular factor, besides gratitude, that can provide this many benefits? I tried to think of one but came up empty. So, I searched for other opinions and found this quote from the Roman philosopher Cicero – “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others”. There were many other quotes on the topic, and they all gave gratitude the same level of significance.
So, this is where it became clear to me that God designed us in a way that makes us healthier when we express gratitude. Here are the truths we know:
- We know that God wants us to have all the good things in the list above (and many more)
- We know that God is the one who designed us
- Scientific studies show that gratitude leads to the benefits above (and many more)
When we consider all these things together, it seems obvious that we can draw a clear connection. I believe we can simply say that God wants each of us to enjoy every good thing in life and that He gave us gratitude as one of the keys to unlock all this goodness.
Questions:
- We discussed this last week, but let’s ask the question again after today’s lesson – why do you think gratitude is so important to God?
- Can you think of any other single factor, other than gratitude, that can produce so many benefits?
- Do you have a regular gratitude practice now? If you are comfortable, please share this with the group.
- In addition to the answers from question 3, what are some other ways you can start making gratitude a daily habit?
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