I will give to the Lord the thanks due to His righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High. Psalm 7.17
I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of Your wonderful deeds. Psalm 9.1
The Lord is my strength and my shield; in Him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults and with my song I give thanks to Him. Psalm 28.7
I will give thanks to Your name, O Lord, for it is good. Psalm 54.6
I give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify Your name forever. Psalm 86.12
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His steadfast love endures forever! Psalm 118.1
All Your works shall give thanks to You, O Lord, and all Your saints shall bless You! Psalm 145.10
If there is one characteristic that marks a person as a follower of Jesus Christ over all others it is that the Christ-follower has learned the art of giving thanks. The great apostle, Paul, will tell us in Romans 1.21 that God is provoked to anger by the non-Christian world because “although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him.” Gratitude is the mark of a redeemed life.
Think about this: why did our parents teach us to say, “thank you?” Because saying “thank you” cultivates within us the awareness that all that we possess we have received as a gift. By giving thanks to God we are simply recognizing that we are dependent upon Him for all things necessary for our life and our salvation. And, it is this interior disposition – this posture of thanksgiving – that produces within us a sense of contentment that circumstances can not touch.
Paul will go to say in 1 Timothy 6.6; “godliness with contentment is great gain.” The Greek word Paul uses, “autarkeia,” is unique in the New Testament to Paul. It has as it’s meaning the idea of being content independent of, or with indifference to, your circumstances. Paul uses this word only twice more in his writings. The first is found in 2 Corinthians 9.8; “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” And the second in Philippians 4.11; “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.”
What does it mean to be content? What circumstances bring about your contentedness? Contentment at the deepest Christian level is a satisfaction with the circumstances of our lives, receiving them as ordained by God. How different to live this way! Paul brings us back to basics by reminding us that Jesus Christ is the satisfaction of the deepest longings of our heart. To have Christ, to be indwelt by His Spirit, is to have both godliness and contentment.
James asks, “what causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want.” Too often, I’ve talked to irreligious folk who’ve watched Christians live their lives, not with a demonstration of the contentment and satisfaction Paul speaks of, but with the same disordered drives and pursuits that shape their lives – with the exception of now having religious duties and obligations to fulfill; and they want no part of what they see.
Christians are meant to live differently – invited, actually, to live differently. As we learn to become content in Christ a deep sense of satisfaction and gratitude begins to pervade our hearts and minds that expresses itself through the attitude of thanksgiving. To have Christ is to have the fullness of life. He makes it possible in the midst of our most difficult of circumstances to be thankful – not necessarily for the situation we find ourselves in, but because He is with us.
As we approach this Thanksgiving I pray that a sense of gratitude will grow in all of our hearts: gratitude for the great gift of Christ; gratitude for the great gift of friendship we share in Christ and gratitude for the great gift of this congregation. Jacqui and I continually find ourselves thankful not only that we “have” Jesus, but that He has us. And to this blessed assurance we count all else as lavish, undeserved blessing. Particularly, we are thankful the love, generosity and kindness this parish has demonstrated toward us again and again these many years. And, I am blessed and thankful to be your Rector.
In the family,
Steve
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I have a lot more reading and meditating to do but something came up today and I just cannot seem to reconcile it…
I read a devotional today and then read what you quoted from Romans 1
We are made in the image of God which is all powerful, all knowing and all loving. Anger is an emotion not an action right? WE call it justified when we act in anger as long as we decide we are in the right, but I’m beginning to be aware that acting in anger is never right, that withdrawing is the answer. So maybe the provokation of anger in God never cause him to strike out but instead to withdraw and let us experience our own right idea. To give us what we wanted to show us that acting in anger or retaliation is NEVER right. Instead we’re allowed to experience the natural loving consequence. In other words, where was the love given and provided in the event, anyone outside of Gods love experienced the consequence of being outside of the realm of God?
I’m having a hard time with the anger, jealousy and wrath being God’s idea. I am more inclined (at the moment, and I’m asking here for some help) to believe that if I were to really delve into the Truth, I’d find that God just didn’t participate in the fight allowing us to experience natural consequence to anger, judgement, jealousy and rage.
It’s easy to read scripture and believe that God is Wrath and Fury when you read it from the human perspective … but when you read it from God’s perspective, he’s not angry at all, he just moves on with love and allows us to experience natural consequence of our unloving human nature in favor of giving those who ask his will be done unending Grace.
Is the root word of wrath a meaning that is derived from writhe? I can think of what it feels like to be a parent trying to sit and wait for your kid to come back as you let them out into the world, in love, and worry as they experience their human knowledge and human nature and ideas clashing up against your true loving nature… to writhe as you allow them to go, knowing that you have given them as much love as you can and wanting them to know more of you and what you’ve tried to teach them. To take the step back and just let them experience their own consequence of moving out of the true Grace and Power of your kingdom?
We think intense emotion is a cause of action, when really it seems as I consider it, that it’s natural cause should be withdraw and pray???
So is the cause of sin that God strikes out…or withdraws from you as you are sinning. It seems that if I act in retaliation, in discord … I’m out of the Rhythm and I experience the resulting disharmony. The minute I turn back I begin to experience the harmony and Grace again?
My brain hurts. But my heart just seems to be a little more open to the idea that God is always here ALWAYS in Grace and Love, that all things are for the purpose of Greater Love, Greater Forgiveness…
Good questions, Jessie. And, having said that, I’d rather stay on topic – the post that Pastor Steve posted addressed the topic of thanksgiving, contentment and gratitude. Those, too, are challenging attitudes to cultivate, for me anyway.
Jessie, I’d be willing to look at the issues you raise in a future posting. They’re good thoughts and it’s no wonder your brain hurts.
Hey Steve: We are a couple of old folks and
wonder if it would be ok not to shake hands during
greeting time of “pass the peace”. There are
folks that come to church sick and to us,a flue
illness could be devastating!
Thankyou; what do you think?
Ron and Jeannette Krebs
Hello Jeannette. It’d be fine if you simply gave a polite nod, a wink or the peace sign.
Also, on a different note, did you notice St. Andrew’s has placed handsanitizers various walls throughout the church? Hopefully, these will help keep folks healthy.
Jessie,
my head just hurts reading your post…
good thought-provoking stuff though
God Bless
My brain hurts from listening to Jessie. As for worry about spreading dis-ease by shaking hands, I have learned that worry is low-grade atheism and a way of praying bad circumstances into existance…but I still use the hand sanitizer “LOL”
Here’s a thought.
Sin is completely contrary to God’s nature so of course He experiences wrath (or anger) at our sin. You could argue that at times God withdraws His presence from us and therefore lets us struggle with the natural consequences of our sin. Yet because He is sovereign, He is always present and always engaged. He hates sin (shows His wrath) but also earnestly desires an intimate relationship with us. He sent Jesus to die for us (did He “writhe” on the cross for us?). Through His Holy Spirit, He calls us, beckons us into that intimate relationship with Him. While He chooses us, we do have a choice about how we will let Him control our lives. When we say “yes”, good things happen.
Now THAT’S something to be thankful for!
amen craig
The picture you included hung in my grandparents home. I’m homesick for a time and a place that no longer exists. As a boy visiting their simple, modest (although it didn’t seem that way at the time) home is the one tangible memory of being happy and content. I’ve “succeeded” my every measurable standard and the contentment you wrote about eludes me. I’m not even sure what to say at this point. The painting, though, evokes strong memories and a wish that my life looked different. Thanks for your blog.
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