So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the town and were coming to him.

John 4:28-30

The Gospel of John records a conversation between Jesus and a Samaritan woman who had come to draw water from Jacob’s well. The conversation begins with Jesus asking her for a drink of water and ends with Jesus revealing to her that He is the Messiah. Overcome with gratitude, “the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” (John‬ ‭4‬:‭29‬ ‭ESV) Like the woman at the well, ‬‬God knows our past but accepts us as we are through grace.

For a follower of Jesus, true and lasting gratitude – that comes from a transformed heart – begins at the foot of the cross of Christ. Romans 5:8 tells us that “God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.” It is through Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection that we can be forgiven of our sins, allowing us to be reconciled to the Father. As an apprentice of Jesus, we have been given the keys to the kingdom of gratitude. Why? Because as people created in the image of God, we can’t experience the fullness of gratitude apart from a saving relationship with Jesus. This recognition of God’s generosity in our time of need cultivates a heart of gratitude.

Dallas Willard once wrote the following words about the intersection of grace and gratitude: “gratitude is an expression of appreciation, an articulation of what we have received. Like a receipt, our gratitude is evidence of the transaction of grace from God.” In the presence of God, we experience the fullness of God’s grace and goodness. The Holy Spirit is continually at work in us, planting seeds of thanksgiving that, with time, grow and mature into a heart of gratitude.

Jesus only ever did what He saw His Father doing. He treated women with respect and dignity because that’s how His Father taught Him. He gave them responsibilities, trusted their insight, and wove them into His ministry.

Like the Samaritan woman, when our hearts overflow with gratitude for what Jesus has done for us, we cannot help but share the good news of the Gospel with others. And that is most certainly why gratitude is contagious! When the Holy Spirit transforms our heart from the inside out – into the image of Christ – gratitude begins to spill over into the lives of others. The people in our lives that bump up next to us realize that there is something different about us. When they see us remain grateful in times of blessing and suffering, they can’t help but wonder – how is this possible? And when they start to notice that we are people who are free from the snares of comparison, worry, and greed, they can’t help but ask, “what does this person have that I am missing?” Experience tells us that people are attracted to those who are “thankful in all circumstances.” (See 1 Thessalonians 5:18)