Gratitude - Going Beyond a mere Thank You

The other day, someone posted a thing on FB about how bad it was to force children to show thankfulness in the form of requiring them to say, “Thank you” to others and forcing them to right thank you cards.

On one side I was appalled.  I thought that if we don’t teach them to be thankful then they will just be selfish little beggars who never show gratitude.  But you know if I am honest with myself and you, I have to admit that being someone trained under that very system, I actually find myself fighting against giving thanks to others for their generosity or their kindness.

There was a song we sang in church that I am finding myself remembering and the song started, “Give thanks with a grateful heart.”  I don’t know how many times I have sung that song without really considering what I am saying.  I thought I was grateful, but lately, as I rethink this, I must admit that there is an attitude of either ungratefulness or thinking I am some how deserving of the good things that are done for me.  In fact, I can remember being resentful towards some people because they were not giving me my due or supporting me as I thought I should be supported.

I am realizing that in me there is this little boy who resents being told to be thankful or being expected to say thanks.  As a result, my thankfulness is somehow stifled.  Instead of being thankful when I receive a gift or someone’s help I find this awkward feeling rising up in me.  Instead of responding to the kindness with a sense of gratitude I start struggling with a voice that says, “You better say ‘Thank you,’ or else!”  That causes me to hesitate which intern brings shame because I haven’t done it and pretty soon I just want to forget the whole thing.

But as I consider the sermon I heard Pastor Ron Flores Jr. preach, I am beginning  to realize that I have freedom in God’s grace; freedom to respond with a grateful heart.  As long I struggle under the externally and internally imposed “You must!”  my flesh rebels against doing the required thing.  I am realizing that the response to legalism and performance-ism is often rebellion.  I don’t want to rebel against God’s will but as Iong as I deal with it in the realm of must/must not, I will find myself fighting against God’s ways and his intent for me.

But as I consider what was shared in that Sunday Sermon that I listened to on line, I am left thinking, “Wow, have I ever got this wrong. Lord, thank you for the freedom you have given to me by your Grace.  Thank you for your example that encourages me to think beyond the limitations I and others have set on me.”  I have freedom in Christ.  So often I have missed the true picture of what the freedom looks like.

I know that this is not the freedom to do whatever I please; the freedom to be selfish.  Instead, it is the freedom to try and fail without shame, knowing that Christ has already begun a work in me that HE will continue to work on until the day I go into Glory.  I am free to live as a child of God for the rest of my life.  I am free to pursue God with my whole heart soul and mind, with all of my strength because He has made a way where there seems to be no way.  Grace has empowered me to live the abundant life that He has foreordained for me to live.

But getting back to gratitude and how and why we express it; consider the following -

If I am forced to show gratitude to those around me, then I become someone who demands it.  True gratitude comes from the heart not via coercion from the outside.  When we demand or expect gratitude then our focus is upon ourselves.  This is a case of trying to save ourselves and thereby losing ourselves.

These words came to me as I was pondering Ronnie's sermon.  True gratitude flows from the heart unhindered.  It is a natural response to what Jesus has done for me.  And because I have every reason to be grateful/thankful because of what He did on the Cross and his giving us his Holy Spirit, thankfulness is not something compelled but rather it is something that naturally flows out of the Christian heart.  And as we are grateful to Christ, we are able to be thankful to all those around us and for every little thing.  The Law cannot bring about righteousness, only God’s Grace can do that.

Walking in God’s Grace,

Pastor Alan

Forsaking Fear

The other morning I found myself pondering all the posts I see on FB that are fear based.  Fear for what microwaves do to food, fear about GMO's, fear about what/how the government is taking away our freedoms, fear that they may take away our guns and fear that we may loose our comfortable and easy way of life here in the United States.  As I ponder these things and the mentality of my fellow Christians, I was reminded of the words of Christ where he tells us that we are to take up our crosses daily and die to ourselves.  And he warns us that those unwilling to do so are unworthy of the Kingdom of Heaven.  That is some pretty heavy stuff.

We all have fears.  We fear what people are thinking and saying about us.  We fear the response of our loved ones such that we try to tell them what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear.  We fear the loss of comfort and we fear the loss of income and possessions.  We fear that the world may be coming to the end or that terrorists may attack us again.  I personally can remember fearing commercial aircraft for a while after watching the attack on the twin towers in New York about a hundred times on the TV.

Fear can be a good thing at times as it can helps us to be cautious when in dangerous situations and fear can stimulate the generation of adrenaline which can give us the strength and speed to get out of a potentially deadly situation.  Bur for most of us living in the modern world, away from animals with big teeth and sharp claws fear only paralyzes us and prevents us from living our daily lives.  When fear enters in and we have no outlet (nothing to run from and nothing to fight) it leaves us in agitated state that prevents us from thinking clearly and just leaves us stressed out.

In 1 John 4, the apostle  John writes in verse 28, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love."

This passage leads me to think that many of us have not reached perfection in love.  We fear loss, we fear pain and we fear separation.  These fears are part of everyday life for people but I also believe they are tools or schemes of the devil.  We are encouraged to not be unaware of the schemes of the devil.  Which means we should not be playing into his hand both rather looking for ways to resist the devil as we submit to God.

The Apostle Paul addresses this in his letter to the Romans in chapter 8 verses 15-16.  "For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!”  He is reminding us that the freedom that we have been granted through Christ's death and resurrection has set us free from fear.  When we start posting fearful things on FB or recounting all of our fears, we are becoming slaves to fear.  We are making our fears greater than God's love and mercy.  We are turning our fears into personal idols.  Idols are anything that we give power over us.  Our fear of sickness or our fear of others become idols in our lives.  Proverbs tells us that the fear of others is a snare.  Our fears catch us and prevent us from experiencing the freedom granted to us by Christ and the Holy Spirit of God.

In Matthew 10:28 Jesus warns us, "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell."  That is Jesus' way of telling us to fear God and not worry about the small stuff.  As the saying goes if Jesus is not Lord of all then He is not Lord at all.  We have to put Him first in our lives lest we become slaves again to fear.  This is a lifestyle not just something we acknowledge and then move on the next thing.  We must put God first we must fear him above all else (even though He loves us dearly and Jesus said calls us his friends).

We are no longer to be idol worshipers driven by fear and worry.  We are the Children of God, bathed in the love and mercy of All Mighty God.  We are new creations not designed to live as we once did.  We are recreated in the image of our One True God.  We are heirs of God's love and mercy and his greatness.  We are more than conquerors in his Name.

So I would ask you join me this coming year in refraining from re-posting articles that are inspired to invoke fear or shame or worry in people.  We are not people who are to live by fear.  It's okay to have concerns, but some of the things I read that have been posted by fellow Christians are nothing more than fear mongering.  We are children of the living God, the only thing that we should fear is God himself.  These articles may seem like they are encouraging discretion but to me, in my head, I can almost see people grabbing their heads and running about screaming "Oh My God, what are we going to do??!!!"

Faith transcends fear.  Faith says I trust God to work in all the circumstances of my life.  I trust his Power more than I trust humans and their plans.  Faith says I do not fret about the scheming of evil people, but rather trust in God's sovereignty to be with me.

Now what I am not saying is just wander through life without a care in the world.  Even Christ warned us "to be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves".  Just don't submit to crazy schemes or walk through life without discernment. Whatever you do, do it as an act of worship unto God.  The world and the enemy work very hard to confuse and abuse us, but when we die to our selfish worries and concerns, we attune our ears and our hearts to the voice of our Master and Savior.

Fear not and be strong and courageous because our Lord has overcome the world.

Blessings, in Jesus Name

Preacher Al