1 Corinthians 10:32 As a matter of fact, do everything that way, heartily and freely to God’s glory. (msg)

In Spanish, the word ‘freely’ translates to ‘gratuitamente’. What does gratitude have to do with freedom? I had never really considered the connection between these two words before, but I have found the consideration quite rewarding!

If I approach our Heavenly Father with a heart of gratitude (thankfulness, contentment, not wanting, gratitude for His sufficiency), I will undoubtedly walk more freely because I trust His provision and am grateful. A heart of gratitude is truly a key to freedom. It takes our eyes off ourselves and what we think we need and instead places our eyes and thoughts on His perfect sufficiency… places our eyes on Him.

Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity. 1 John‬ ‭2:15-17‬ (msg)

Peter writes, “…hold your minds in a state of undistracted attention…. Galaxies will burn up and the elements melt down that day – but we’ll hardly notice…” (2 Peter 3 msg)

When we discover that keeping our eyes on the Lord completes us perfectly, completes us in a better Good than we could ever dream, our hearts will worship Him in gratitude, freed from all the burdens of this world, no matter the condition of our physical circumstances. God’s Goodness is not dependent on how we feel about something… gratitude opens doors to an entire level of freedom not based on our emotions. This is great news!

“I beamed. How could I do anything else? The joy flooding me would make me burst if I didn’t share the news. All those years of thinking we were alone… struggling to control the world through our perfection. The truth was glorious. I would tell everyone I knew.” -Sharon Hink, ‘Hidden Current’

Pic: Not sure how to finish the picture – stay tuned… or maybe it will go unfinished…