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This is the season of Thanksgiving. Our thoughts quickly turn to our blessings:
our family and friends, our homes, jobs, food on the table, peace and
safety. I am thankful for the seasonal
reminder of the importance not just of giving thanks, but also of being a
thankful person. I have so much for
which to be thankful.
From a Biblical perspective, few characters represent the
giving of thanks as well as the Apostle Paul.
Paul continually gives thanks, in hard times more than good. In his letter to the Corinthians (I Cor.
11:1), Paul urges believers to imitate him as he imitates Christ. One way we can do that is to imitate Paul in
his giving of thanks. I believe there is
a rich component of thanksgiving that Paul understood better than many of
us. One of the most noticeable features
of many of Paul’s letters is not just the giving of thanks, but the giving of
thanks for those who would receive his letter.
Even in the midst of conflict with them, even as these immature
believers required correction, he gave thanks for them.
As we count our blessings and stoke the fire of gratitude
this holiday season, I would like to invite all of us to pause and include one
another in our prayers of praise. In our
frantic and fragmented world, it is easy to overlook the quiet folks with whom
we worship week after week; it can be almost automatic to regard with anger or
impatience those with whom we have had conflict or less than satisfying
ministry partnerships. To be sure, we
are sinners, and the continual need for forgiveness is great. I am not suggesting that we ignore our need
to pursue confession, repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation. But even as we do that, let us consider one
another as unique creations of our Lord, heirs of the kingdom with us, and
worthy of appreciation.
If we follow Paul as our thanksgiving model, we will thank
God for one another and make that
thanksgiving known to the body. We can
get extra “mileage” from our thanksgiving by thanking God and sharing our thanksgiving with others. We then reap the multiplied blessing of
offering thanks to God and encouraging one another. And, like so many Biblical activities, it becomes
contagious. We grow from being a body
with thankful members to a thankful body.
And that will require yet another helping of thanksgiving….
