Leadership Lessons: October 2024

The Theology of Thanks

In 1942, an Austrian psychiatrist named Victor Frankl was arrested by the Nazis. He spent three years in four concentration camps, including Auschwitz. He was stripped of his possessions down to his wedding ring, his clothes, and even his name. He was now reduced to prisoner 119104. His wife, mother, and father would die in those same concentration camps. The year after his liberation, Victor Frankl wrote a book titled, Man’s Search for Meaning. A survey conducted for the Library of Congress ranked it as one of the thirteen most influential books in the United States. Frankl shared the secret to his survival. He said, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing – the last of the human freedoms to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.”

Here is a man who had every reason to hate, feel bitter, and let his unspeakable circumstances scar his life and destroy his hope. Yet he didn’t, why? He lived by the transformational power of Jesus.

I have heard it said that:

God formed us.
Sin deformed us.
The Bible informs us.
Jesus transforms us.

Victor Frankl lived the rest of his life by this theology of thanks and gratitude. In turn, he helped thousands upon thousands of others to do the same.

Doubt is one of the tools Satan loves to use to cause us to fret, worry, complain, and lose the attitude of gratitude. Doubt is letting your circumstances get between you and God. It is not that I am suggesting you ignore reality; however, we all need to confront those brutal facts with unwavering faith. Faith is simply putting God between you and your circumstances. Gratitude is about being better, not bitter.
What really is the theology of thanks? It comes down to worship and praise. Whatever we don’t turn into praise turns into pride. Whatever we don’t turn into praise turns into pain. Remember, delayed gratitude is really ingratitude. Here is where I like to begin turning my circumstances into worship. I start by worshipping and praising Jesus, not because of what I am facing, but because He is God!

He is the God who saves us!
He is the God who heals us!
He is the God who hears us!
He is the God who answers us!
He is the God who loves us!

The theology of thanks is really about giving credit where credit is due. That is what gratitude is all about. We can sum it all up in one word: Jesus!

In His Grip,

Roland DeRenzo, Ed. D