Christians' Gratitude that cannot be dried up
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:15-17)
As a way of discovering the religious and spiritual status of believers, we must consider the theological aspects of their beliefs. We can regard the theological aspect as difficult and long, but if we make it short, it is encompassed in the Apostles' Creed. The practical aspect explains how we put these concepts into practice through our faithful lives. The faithful life falls into the following categories: the worship service life, the preaching and volunteering service life and the attitude of life in the family and society. In particular, we can't leave out distinguishing the attitude of life in the thankful life. People who are filled with a thankful mind and who express gratitude are spiritually healthy, but people with great complaints are in sickness. It can be poverty for unbelievers to give thanks, but it won't be dried up for Christians who give thanks. Because these are the basis and reason for gratitude, it can't run dry. Nevertheless, we see saints who fall into poverty while expressing gratitude. One of Satan's goals is to deprive saints of their gratitude. The saints who lose their gratitude don't think and behave like normal Christians and do harm to the Church, the Body of Christ.
Therefore, how can we be ceaselessly filled with gratitude in our mind, What reason is there to overflow with thanks in the life of normal Christians? Let us find out the answer to this question.
First, if you want to have a thankful life you should give thanks regarding the present, past and future.
At one time, the Israelites who had come out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses marched for Canaan as God had promised. However, most of them died in the desert because they were thrown out by God. What was the reason? It was because they kept grieving and complaining.
The mistreatment and suffering in Egypt were terrible. The king of Egypt was so afraid of the increasing population of the Israelites that he attempted to kill them. The Egyptians oppressed them with forced labor so as to build Pithom and Rameses as storage cities for the Pharaoh. They worked them ruthlessly. They made their lives bitter with hard labor; in all their hard labor the Egyptians used them ruthlessly without paying for their labors. They made the work harder for the men without supplying materials and they beat them ruthlessly, saying to them, 'Lazy!'. Meanwhile, the king of Egypt ordered the Hebrew midwives to throw infants into the Nile, if they were boys. The Israelites were in serious trouble.
Yet, God rescued them and sent Moses as a leader. God brought ten plagues on the Egyptians and let the Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, surrender. God led the Israelites and let them cross the Red Sea by parting it and gave them manna at every meal. While crossing the desert, there were many times that God helped them. But they ignored God and forgot about his help in those days. Why did their gratitude dry up so quickly? Because they gave thanks only for current affairs. If they had remembered God's grace and love in past days and gave thanks to God, they would not have stopped being thankful and would have continued praising him.
Another reason for the Israelites' poverty with regard to gratitude was that they didn't think to give thanks to God and his grace in preparing them for the future. They didn't leave Egypt so as to only escape a terrible life there. They were also heading for the blessed land of Canaan God had promised this to their forefathers. If they had remained thankful while marching in the desert, they would have enjoyed talking about the Land of Canaan, flowing with milk and honey. Unfortunately, they stuck to facing life and grieved and complained about their current inconveniences and shortages.
Please be filled with thoughts about the future and the honor of an abundant life. God gave us blessings and promises for our future. Please keep in mind that you will be rewarded and will live forever in heaven with a resurrected and honorable body. Also please be filled with smiles and thanks and praises by mouth. I hope you would be full of gratitude due to the resources of past, present and future.
Second, if you want a thankful life which never dries up, you have to learn how to give thanks in three ways.
We should give thanks for all that we have. In the Bible, it was written: "...What do you have that you did not receive?..."(1 Corinthians 4:7). While living in the world, we obtain lots of things during our lives. Everyone came into the world with empty hands at birth. Therefore, what you have comes from God as a gift.
Even if the saints lose something that they have or they encounter a difficult situation, they should be able to give thanks. There was given to the Apostle Paul a thorn in his flesh, a chronic disease or trouble, to torment him. Three times he pleaded with the Lord to take it away from him. But God said to him, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness"(2 Corinthians 12:9). Therefore, he boasted all the more gladly about his weakness. When you are in weakness and in hardship, I hope you can use this chance to entrust your weakness and hardship to God, realizing that "apart from God, there is nothing I can do" and crying out for God's help and counting on God.
Furthermore, the saints should give thanks to God for getting something valuable which can never be lost in any case. The Apostle Paul said that two things can't be lost to the people who believe in Jesus Christ. "Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died -more than that, who was raised to life- is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us"(Romans 8:33~34). The righteousness given by God is not lost to those in Jesus Christ. Although we are weak, inferior and we fall down, as long as we are in Jesus Christ, God's righteousness is not lost.
And it was written: "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor for any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord"(Romans 8:38~39). God's love poured out to the people in Jesus Christ is forever and never lost.
The promise that God is with us, that righteousness is given by God and that love comes from God, can't be bought with all the things in the world. We can never change them with others and nothing can be compared with them. When you compare them with others, others are trifles. I hope you would not be depressed and grieve and complain because of trifles. Even if you lose property, position, honor, authority and even health, please think of the following. There is something I have which can never be lost. I have the most valuable treasure. The Lord is with me. God makes me righteous. God's love is poured out to me in Jesus Christ. If so, you will rejoice and give thanks.
In the life of normal Christians, their gratitudes can't help but overflow. That's why the saints have a good basis and reason for ceaseless gratitude. So, we can measure their religious status and spiritual status through their gratitude. If there are some saints in poverty regarding gratitude, they will have to repent and recover their faith soon. The lack of gratitude causes us to bring about unfortunate situations. It is useless to ask for happiness, leaving out gratitude for your life, just as it is. Even if there are some cases where you might not give thanks to people, there is no case in which you should not give thanks to God. Please do not forget to express actively your gratitude in your heart. It is not vain to make the effort to sacrifice for the expression of gratitude, which gives honor to God and helps us experience salvation from God. The gratitude of normal Christians can't be dried up in their lives, but rather, overflows.
Dears, I bless all of you in the name of Jesus that you would be one of the saints who proves this fact.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:15-17)
As a way of discovering the religious and spiritual status of believers, we must consider the theological aspects of their beliefs. We can regard the theological aspect as difficult and long, but if we make it short, it is encompassed in the Apostles' Creed. The practical aspect explains how we put these concepts into practice through our faithful lives. The faithful life falls into the following categories: the worship service life, the preaching and volunteering service life and the attitude of life in the family and society. In particular, we can't leave out distinguishing the attitude of life in the thankful life. People who are filled with a thankful mind and who express gratitude are spiritually healthy, but people with great complaints are in sickness. It can be poverty for unbelievers to give thanks, but it won't be dried up for Christians who give thanks. Because these are the basis and reason for gratitude, it can't run dry. Nevertheless, we see saints who fall into poverty while expressing gratitude. One of Satan's goals is to deprive saints of their gratitude. The saints who lose their gratitude don't think and behave like normal Christians and do harm to the Church, the Body of Christ.
Therefore, how can we be ceaselessly filled with gratitude in our mind, What reason is there to overflow with thanks in the life of normal Christians? Let us find out the answer to this question.
First, if you want to have a thankful life you should give thanks regarding the present, past and future.
At one time, the Israelites who had come out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses marched for Canaan as God had promised. However, most of them died in the desert because they were thrown out by God. What was the reason? It was because they kept grieving and complaining.
The mistreatment and suffering in Egypt were terrible. The king of Egypt was so afraid of the increasing population of the Israelites that he attempted to kill them. The Egyptians oppressed them with forced labor so as to build Pithom and Rameses as storage cities for the Pharaoh. They worked them ruthlessly. They made their lives bitter with hard labor; in all their hard labor the Egyptians used them ruthlessly without paying for their labors. They made the work harder for the men without supplying materials and they beat them ruthlessly, saying to them, 'Lazy!'. Meanwhile, the king of Egypt ordered the Hebrew midwives to throw infants into the Nile, if they were boys. The Israelites were in serious trouble.
Yet, God rescued them and sent Moses as a leader. God brought ten plagues on the Egyptians and let the Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, surrender. God led the Israelites and let them cross the Red Sea by parting it and gave them manna at every meal. While crossing the desert, there were many times that God helped them. But they ignored God and forgot about his help in those days. Why did their gratitude dry up so quickly? Because they gave thanks only for current affairs. If they had remembered God's grace and love in past days and gave thanks to God, they would not have stopped being thankful and would have continued praising him.
Another reason for the Israelites' poverty with regard to gratitude was that they didn't think to give thanks to God and his grace in preparing them for the future. They didn't leave Egypt so as to only escape a terrible life there. They were also heading for the blessed land of Canaan God had promised this to their forefathers. If they had remained thankful while marching in the desert, they would have enjoyed talking about the Land of Canaan, flowing with milk and honey. Unfortunately, they stuck to facing life and grieved and complained about their current inconveniences and shortages.
Please be filled with thoughts about the future and the honor of an abundant life. God gave us blessings and promises for our future. Please keep in mind that you will be rewarded and will live forever in heaven with a resurrected and honorable body. Also please be filled with smiles and thanks and praises by mouth. I hope you would be full of gratitude due to the resources of past, present and future.
Second, if you want a thankful life which never dries up, you have to learn how to give thanks in three ways.
We should give thanks for all that we have. In the Bible, it was written: "...What do you have that you did not receive?..."(1 Corinthians 4:7). While living in the world, we obtain lots of things during our lives. Everyone came into the world with empty hands at birth. Therefore, what you have comes from God as a gift.
Even if the saints lose something that they have or they encounter a difficult situation, they should be able to give thanks. There was given to the Apostle Paul a thorn in his flesh, a chronic disease or trouble, to torment him. Three times he pleaded with the Lord to take it away from him. But God said to him, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness"(2 Corinthians 12:9). Therefore, he boasted all the more gladly about his weakness. When you are in weakness and in hardship, I hope you can use this chance to entrust your weakness and hardship to God, realizing that "apart from God, there is nothing I can do" and crying out for God's help and counting on God.
Furthermore, the saints should give thanks to God for getting something valuable which can never be lost in any case. The Apostle Paul said that two things can't be lost to the people who believe in Jesus Christ. "Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died -more than that, who was raised to life- is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us"(Romans 8:33~34). The righteousness given by God is not lost to those in Jesus Christ. Although we are weak, inferior and we fall down, as long as we are in Jesus Christ, God's righteousness is not lost.
And it was written: "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor for any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord"(Romans 8:38~39). God's love poured out to the people in Jesus Christ is forever and never lost.
The promise that God is with us, that righteousness is given by God and that love comes from God, can't be bought with all the things in the world. We can never change them with others and nothing can be compared with them. When you compare them with others, others are trifles. I hope you would not be depressed and grieve and complain because of trifles. Even if you lose property, position, honor, authority and even health, please think of the following. There is something I have which can never be lost. I have the most valuable treasure. The Lord is with me. God makes me righteous. God's love is poured out to me in Jesus Christ. If so, you will rejoice and give thanks.
In the life of normal Christians, their gratitudes can't help but overflow. That's why the saints have a good basis and reason for ceaseless gratitude. So, we can measure their religious status and spiritual status through their gratitude. If there are some saints in poverty regarding gratitude, they will have to repent and recover their faith soon. The lack of gratitude causes us to bring about unfortunate situations. It is useless to ask for happiness, leaving out gratitude for your life, just as it is. Even if there are some cases where you might not give thanks to people, there is no case in which you should not give thanks to God. Please do not forget to express actively your gratitude in your heart. It is not vain to make the effort to sacrifice for the expression of gratitude, which gives honor to God and helps us experience salvation from God. The gratitude of normal Christians can't be dried up in their lives, but rather, overflows.
Dears, I bless all of you in the name of Jesus that you would be one of the saints who proves this fact.
