As I was writing my first book, The Persuasive Christian Parent, I realized how important it was that I taught my three children about the importance of gratitude and a thankful disposition in the Christian life. I remember often praying with the family, mostly around dinner and other such events, that God would give us a heart of gratitude. Once when my daughter had become an adult I too remember her praying and asking God to give us a heart of gratitude; my very own words spoken through my child back to God, and I got the chills. And I was beyond words grateful to God! In the book I focused primarily on gratitude to God to whom we have an infinite number of things to be grateful for, but here I want to focus on the horizontal aspect of this powerful attitude and perspective on life. Being grateful to God, though, naturally leads to gratitude to and for others.

I was prompted to write about this because as I’ve grown older I’ve become increasingly aware of how powerful gratitude and a thankful disposition is to the flourishing Christian life. Not only that, but I see it as an integral part of bringing the kingdom of God and its blessings into a dark fallen world, a way to put our light on a stand so everyone can benefit from it, not under a basket where no one can. And when I use the word kingdom I am purposefully using the metaphor of light with it in a very specific way to convey a message about what God’s kingdom means for us in a dark fallen world.

As a recently converted postmillennialist, I have been impressed by the almost ubiquitous use of Kingdom in the gospels, appearing some 124 times. The mistake almost all Christians make is to look at the kingdom as a synonym for the church. I always did. I never saw a reason not to. Now I’m convinced they are not the same thing. The kingdom is God’s rule in the world through Christ by the Holy Spirit, that serves as a blessing to all people, lost and saved. The church is specifically made up of those who have been spiritually raised from the dead by the same Triune God. I’ve been especially impressed by two kingdom parables I previously never thought through in terms of the implications for the world we now inhabit.

The parable of the mustard seed:

“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. ³² Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”

Notice the size of the mustard seed and the mustard tree. Quite the contrast. And if we had to guess how long it took the tree to get that big, it’s likely decades, maybe many decades. The point is that it is slow and enduring and obvious growth; it can’t be denied. Since Jesus came to bring the kingdom of heaven to this fallen world, died, rose again, and sent his Holy Spirit, his kingdom has been slowly but surely growing like a mustard seed into a massive tree. Unless the tree is chopped down, it only grows, and it grows through us.

Right after telling this parable, Jesus shares another with the same message:

 “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

The NIV here says sixty pounds, and different versions have different numbers, but the KJV and ESV render it as it is in Greek, “three measures of flour.” Three, of course, is the biblically symbolic number for perfection. For some reason Jesus uses an unnaturally large amount of flour, which I would suggest is symbolic of the whole world. Many commentators interpret yeast (or leaven) as sin because it’s often used that way in the Bible, but here it most certainly is not! Jesus compares yeast to “the kingdom of heaven,” not the “kingdom of hell.” The context is clearly the fruit of the kingdom he came to bring to earth. And notice how leaven or yeast works in this time laps photography of yeast working its way through a batch of dough, slowly but surely and in only one direction.

In both parables Jesus is clearly teaching that the growth and influence of the kingdom of heaven takes time, doesn’t happen quickly, but happens . . . inevitably. They are illustrations of the fulfillment in redemptive history of the gospel in a tiny corner of the Roman Empire as it spreads to the entire earth. Against absolutely all odds this little movement broke out into a world dominating influence, an influence that 2000 years later affects every corner of our world today and every person in it to one degree or another. That would include us in our own little corner of the world where we are kingdom and gospel influence for all the people we interact with on a daily basis. While I’m a big fan of talking kingdom and gospel content to people whenever and wherever I can, acting out kingdom and gospel values and the blessings that brings, is wonderful to behold. Gratitude is a very easy and effective way to do that.

A thankful disposition and words of gratitude to others in the most mundane of everyday interactions is beautiful. It is a bright kingdom light shining in darkness that makes the darkness flee. The reason I used the phrase “thankful disposition” above is because I like the idea of a mental or emotional outlook or mood of thankfulness toward others. It’s not just saying “thank you” to the person who answers the phone or serves you in a store, it’s being truly grateful for who they are  and what they are doing for you. It is not affectation, but sincere gratitude. It’s amazing to see a person’s face light up when you do this, or hear in their voice the gratitude, and often surprise, for your being thankful and appreciating them. In almost every e-mail interaction I have I write things like, Thanks! Or I really appreciate your help. Or in conversations say, thank you so much, and mean it. So simple, so profound.

I was going to end this by saying try it, but Jesus and God in his word doesn’t give us that option. We are commanded to be thankful. So I guess I should end by saying, do it! Make it a habit, do it all the time, and you’ll be very glad, and grateful, you did.