Gratitude

 





Whenever I have a fortune cookie, I have to read the fortune. Most of them are more of a puzzle than they are wisdom, but on occasion I receive one that makes me think.

This fortune has been sitting on my desk for a couple of weeks, and I have read it periodically. “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.” I believe it is important to live a life of gratitude, but I would like to rephrase the fortune for you. “Gratitude toward Jesus is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.” After all, where would we be without a Savior!

When you realize that without Jesus you are nothing and have nothing, it puts a whole new twist on the fortune. Paul is very poignant about this fact in these words.


I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength to do his work. He considered me trustworthy and appointed me to serve him, even though I used to blaspheme the name of Christ. In my insolence, I persecuted his people. But God had mercy on me because I did it in ignorance and unbelief. Oh, how generous and gracious our Lord was! He filled me with the faith and love that come from Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 1:12-14).


Paul was trained as a Pharisee, which made him very knowledgeable of the scriptures. He felt the Christian movement was against Judaism, and fought fiercely against the Christians. Yes, Paul even persecuted them prior to his salvation. (Acts 9:1-9).

God took all of Paul’s strengths (his knowledge of the scriptures) and weaknesses (persecuting Christians) and turned him into a great missionary. No other person in history has impacted Christianity like Paul. Our gratitude needs to go beyond Jesus. We need to also be thankful for Paul, because he brought the gospel to the Gentiles. Without his hard work and dedication to the Lord, we would not have the Christian foundation we have today.

Like Paul, we too are sinners. We all make mistakes, have faith struggles, and question our abilities to be a disciple of Christ. Yet we are all worthy to be a servant and a witness of Jesus Christ.

God used Paul in mighty ways, and for that I am truly thankful. Jesus Christ took all of my sins to the cross, and I can only repay that debt in one way. I choose to live a life of gratitude toward Jesus and to be His faithful disciple in the work He presents before me. I will hold tight to the truths Paul wrote to the Gentiles, so many years ago. These Words are God breathed, timeless, and true for all who believe in the power of Jesus.


Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy, for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. (Philippians 1:3-6).


What “good work” has Jesus begun within you which you need to finish?


What is your greatest fear, or hurdle which keeps you from becoming a true disciple of Jesus? Find a scripture which erases that fear and helps you understand true grace?


Record your daily gratitude each day for a month. You will be amazed at the changes in your heart.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Crazy Messy

Image
Sometimes life gets crazy messy, like my house while we were waiting on new flooring. We ordered vinyl flooring for the office and carpet for the bedroom. They estimated it would be about three weeks before it arrived. I saw no hurry to empty either room and paint. After all, I had plenty of time. My three weeks turned into about ten days, and I had very little notice they were coming to install the office flooring. I literally dumped piles of papers into boxes as I cleared the desks and closet so I could paint, before the new flooring was installed. Before the office was back together, I also had to empty the bedroom, which made for an even bigger mess! We had piles in every corner and small furniture on top larger items. It’s not always our piles of paper, our closets, and drawers that create the disasters in life. Messy can come from emotional stress, or difficult decisions. Family disputes or unexpected tragedies. You fill in the blank. What part of your life is crazy messy or has
Read more

The Missing Sock

Image
  I dropped a laundry basket of clean clothes near my husband’s chair. I knew it was a long shot, but I thought maybe he would notice the basket and match socks while he watched the TV. (Try it sometime, because it worked!) When he got to the end of the basket, he was missing a sock. No big deal, it happens all the time. I set the sock on top of the dresser and figured its friend would show up in another load. Fast forward several days and I’m at the chiropractor standing at the front desk. I removed my jacket and took a step backward. Much to my surprise, there was my husband’s missing sock on the floor. The sweatshirt I was wearing was in the same load of laundry. Apparently the missing sock found a new friend and became rather clingy. I picked it up off of the floor, chuckled and said, “I found my husband’s missing sock. I write devotions. There is a story in here somewhere.” During biblical times Palestinian women received ten silver coins as a wedding gift. These coins were not on
Read more

Have Faith and Pray

Image
  Faith is an element in my life, which I have questioned from time to time. What exactly is faith? Hebrews 11:1 (NIV) says “F aith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” If I pray for something in faith and it doesn’t happen, is that a lack of faith? I have come to realize over the years that it is not. We need to understand and be thankful that God sometimes says, “No.” I grew up in a godly home where examples of faith surrounded me. On the family farm, there was a great deal of work, but there were also lessons of faith. I watched year after year as my father planted the seed and had faith it would grow. The seed needed to receive the right amount of rain, sunshine, and nutrients to produce a crop, which provided food for his dairy cattle and an income for his family. I observed my mother, who was definitely a Proverbs 31 woman. She had the faith necessary to stretch Dad’s income to provide for their five children. Her faith showed her how to b
Read more