What makes life beautiful, true, and even good? Many things could and should be said, from oxygen and calories to growth and confession. Each of those items, and many others, warrant attention. I want to reflect on how gratitude is a crucial yet easily overlooked element of the good life. That also means that a life of ingratitude is, by contrast, a bad life. Let’s examine each idea briefly.
First, what makes for a bad life? Perhaps two modern voices can help.
In The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky tells of the devil’s visits to Ivan. The devil approaches in the darkness of night. The devil comes when he – when all – are tired and weary. In one such occurrence, the devil offers the confession that “all the best emotions, such as gratitude, are formally forbidden me.” The devil cannot express gratitude, and the devil is shown to dwell in the darkness.
In The Genealogy of Morals, Friedrich Nietzsche spends some time depicting the slave morality of the many who willingly take upon themselves or, at the very least, willingly persist in the shackles of weakness. Religion – especially Christianity – is a gateway to this enslavement and this persistent yoke. Such enslaved persons find it might difficult to fix their own circumstances, much less their own character. Ressentiment or contemptuous resentment is the far more appetizing posture they can much more easily express. Of them, Nietzsche says that their contempt ensures that their “soul squints.” They can no longer see wide, far, and true.
The bad life is dark and narrow. It wanders as at night, and it journeys with but a squinting eye watching round about. The ungrateful soul can’t take in reality as its truly is. The thankless fool can only turn contemptuously to gripe atof others. Such is the devilish path. Thus leads the way of slavery.
Second, what makes for the good life then? Here two scriptures prove instructive.
In Colossians 3, Paul seeks to direct Christians in Colossae to set their minds above. It is not mere moral exhortation, however, for he offers promise. “Let the Word of Christ dwell richly in you” (Col. 3:16). Here is the offer of Christ’s Speech not only coming to one, but dwelling within one. In that respect, it is intimate and abiding. Here too is the pledge of a Word from Christ that dwells “richly” in one’s midst. It is not a meager word and has not a small impact. It is a word with excessive generosity. With this summons to “let” this word dwell in you to that rich effect, Paul goes on to list a variety of means by which the Word abides. They appear in participial form, each modifying or characterizing the way the Christ’s Word dwells richly. Several things are said, but one alone is repeated.
When you are “singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,” be doing so “with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Col. 3:16). And then “whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Col. 3:17). Sing with thankfulness – do everything as one giving thanks to God. The repetition conveys emphasis. The two statements portray gratitude as something one discretely does in singing thanks but also a posture or manner by which one does everything, gratefully before God the Father for Christ’s sake. Gratitude and thanks are here named as a means of grace, whereby Christ’s Word dwells richly. If you want the good life and want to know something increasingly of God’s rich generosity, then be grateful by singing thanks and by walking thankfully in and through all things. Gratitude is the way to such riches, because it marks the life of one in whom God dwells by his Word.
In Ephesians 5, the same Paul writes to a range of Christians – in this circulating letter – about similar matters, albeit in a fresh and complementary manner. Paul warns against an unproductive behavior: “Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery” (Eph. 5:18). Paul is not content simply to rebut a bad pathway, however, for he goes on to address the underlying concern in his next statement: “Be filled with the Spirit” (5:18). Why does one get drunk? Other reasons can factor in, but surely the most frequent prompt would be the difficulties of life. There are seemingly intractable challenges without and within. If I can’t fix them or even myself, then I am left with the promise of hurt. Perhaps the only viable pathway is to numb the pain and disappointment with drink or pills. Paul warns against such a counterproductive response to pain and difficulty, but he in no way minimizes the pain or struggle. “The days are evil” (Eph. 5:16).
The wise path is neither to wallow in the difficulty nor to tap out by use of a chemical aid. The call instead is to receive strength from God alone. “Be filled with the Spirit,” we are told. The Spirit comes to us in the evil age and our sense of weak insufficiency. He comes not merely to keep us going and to maintain us in a survival state. He comes to fill us, invoking language thate has resonated throughout the epistle thus far (see 1:23 and 4:10). As in Col. 3, so here Paul then names various means of God’s provision. We are told to “be filled with the Holy Spirit” and then participles explain how the Spirit fills God’s children.
“Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. 5:20), appears amid three other items in the list. As in Col. 3, it is apropos to thank God for every good gift – “for everything” and “always,” in fact – and so it is described in an ongoing manner. If you want the good life and want strength to persist in the journey in difficult times, then be grateful for all things along the way. Gratitude is the way to such endurance, because it marks the life of the creature filled by God’s Spirit.
Contempt and ingratitude beckon one to walk darkened and squinting. They disable our ability to see rightly, whether of God, the world, neighbors, or our very selves. The Word of Christ and the Spirit’s filling mark a path of gratitude and thanks that brings riches and fullness. If you want the good life, know that it comes as a path of gratitude. Be a creature. Sing praise and thanks. Own that you live on borrowed breath, and persist in naming those who makes your life possible (God above all). Devils do lurk. Slavery beckons. Refuse to squint and instead live in the daylight as God’s child, for gratitude marks the path of the good life.
Michael Allen
Michael Allen is the John Dyer Trimble Professor of Systematic Theology and Academic Dean at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando. Among his many books, he has written Ephesians in the Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible series.
