Thankfulness as a source of life
“’…All these commandments I have kept,’ the young man said. ‘What do I still lack?’ Jesus answered, ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’ When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.”
I am sitting in Starbucks on Black Friday at 5:30 am. There are cars frantically racing about outside on destinations to shopping malls and big box stores that promise deals for Christmas shopping. I don’t have the money to do likewise. That our society makes a holiday out of consumption is indicative of the consumption that drives our capitalist economy. But yesterday I spent the day in
thankfulness with my family at Thanksgiving dinner. We spent time with others whom we love, thankful for their comfort, and I thought upon all the gifts God had given us. One blessing from earlier this year is this laptop. I received a bonus at work from my new organization. It is something that would have never happened under the management structure I came from. I went out and bought this fast and compact new laptop. I spend many hours writing spiritual articles for my blog that reach a lot of “spiritual but not religious” people whom I love and with whom I want to share the happiness I have found. I have also written a second book on this laptop. I am so thankful for the undeserved blessing of God to do my ministry: bring Jesus and the bible to those who may not have heard it in the way it and he speaks to me. Last night I thought of a ministry opportunity for Christmas. My wife and I could buy blankets for the homeless to keep them warm on street corners and in the cold shelters. “All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:15) Their thanksgiving, and ours as well. Needless to say, I am not braving the lines for Black Friday for items for myself as many people do. We will not have an extravagant Christmas which is primarily our fault. But I am so thankful for what we do have. We have plenty to give each other gifts and get some things for the new baby. And I am so thankful for that. Thankfulness is the inverse of consumption. Thankfulness in the Christian tradition, and in many religious traditions says “what I have is a wonderful gift from God. Why do I need anything more?”
There is a particularly well-known scripture in the bible that expresses this well and additional tell us not to worry. Jesus says, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the ungodly run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
We would do well to take his advice. Do not worry, everything you need will be provided for you. Between the two of us, my wife and I make a good living. However, we never have any savings in the bank. A sump pump was the repair this month. There are clothes and used toys for the baby. Not to mention food and diapers. Every month this is some car repair or house repair. Because of it, we find that every month, we just have enough money for that month. I think there is a saving supernatural force at work here. For everything we have been able to purchase, and for every repair we needed, we can afford it and no more. The last little bit goes to the church: our old church and our new one. And this blesses the members of the church as well as those outside the church as each church reaches out in its ministries to clothe the naked, tend to the sick, and include those who are not included in society. But, if we were good stewards, our first fruits (a tithe or 10% of our income) would go to the church and we would still have money left over for trips and toys and clothes. So we are not role models by any stretch of the imagination, but also we are not conspicuous consumers. We don’t always have the best and latest and greatest. What we have is thankfulness. What a much better way to live. It keeps our ears to the ground for the stirring voice of God in our lives. I am thankful for our situation. It brings me closer to God when I have to pray to have the money to repair the sump pump. That brings true thankfulness. In the African American church, members of an oppressed minority in society often do not have the opportunities we have and find they are often in a worse situation. But they have a saying about God. He is “a just-in-time God.” I have never met such thankful people as I did in our primarily African American church we attended when I was young. Thankfulness is known to be a primary factor in happiness and good health as well as a long life, due to research in the field of positive psychology. Sometimes I think those researchers are just lifting concepts from the bible and not giving due credit. Thankfulness is all through the bible and especially in Jesus’ words and in the words of the people who wrote the scriptures after Jesus, following his traditions. And it is widely known that consumption does not do any of these things. How much happier would we all be if we could be thankful all the time. We would live longer, happier, and more spiritually, mentally, and physically healthy. This is the wisdom of the scriptures and the wisdom of Jesus. We would do well to pay heed to the wise.
I am sitting in Starbucks on Black Friday at 5:30 am. There are cars frantically racing about outside on destinations to shopping malls and big box stores that promise deals for Christmas shopping. I don’t have the money to do likewise. That our society makes a holiday out of consumption is indicative of the consumption that drives our capitalist economy. But yesterday I spent the day in
There is a particularly well-known scripture in the bible that expresses this well and additional tell us not to worry. Jesus says, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the ungodly run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
We would do well to take his advice. Do not worry, everything you need will be provided for you. Between the two of us, my wife and I make a good living. However, we never have any savings in the bank. A sump pump was the repair this month. There are clothes and used toys for the baby. Not to mention food and diapers. Every month this is some car repair or house repair. Because of it, we find that every month, we just have enough money for that month. I think there is a saving supernatural force at work here. For everything we have been able to purchase, and for every repair we needed, we can afford it and no more. The last little bit goes to the church: our old church and our new one. And this blesses the members of the church as well as those outside the church as each church reaches out in its ministries to clothe the naked, tend to the sick, and include those who are not included in society. But, if we were good stewards, our first fruits (a tithe or 10% of our income) would go to the church and we would still have money left over for trips and toys and clothes. So we are not role models by any stretch of the imagination, but also we are not conspicuous consumers. We don’t always have the best and latest and greatest. What we have is thankfulness. What a much better way to live. It keeps our ears to the ground for the stirring voice of God in our lives. I am thankful for our situation. It brings me closer to God when I have to pray to have the money to repair the sump pump. That brings true thankfulness. In the African American church, members of an oppressed minority in society often do not have the opportunities we have and find they are often in a worse situation. But they have a saying about God. He is “a just-in-time God.” I have never met such thankful people as I did in our primarily African American church we attended when I was young. Thankfulness is known to be a primary factor in happiness and good health as well as a long life, due to research in the field of positive psychology. Sometimes I think those researchers are just lifting concepts from the bible and not giving due credit. Thankfulness is all through the bible and especially in Jesus’ words and in the words of the people who wrote the scriptures after Jesus, following his traditions. And it is widely known that consumption does not do any of these things. How much happier would we all be if we could be thankful all the time. We would live longer, happier, and more spiritually, mentally, and physically healthy. This is the wisdom of the scriptures and the wisdom of Jesus. We would do well to pay heed to the wise.
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