Having a heart of gratitude to those who should be appreciated…
And expressing gratitude to them…
It stands to reason that it should be natural for us to express gratitude to others. But somehow, we are not accustomed to doing it.
Now that the House Church Pastor Conference is over, it should come as no surprise that we want to lift our gratitude to God in our heart. We have a lot to thank for, and now is the time to do it.
Once you offer a heart of gratitude to God, your heart of thanksgiving should also go to the brothers and sisters who you have worked together. If you don’t have such a feeling of thanksgiving to brothers and sisters, then your Christian life is only half fulfilled. This is because God does his work through people and it requires their sacrifice and dedication. Just like we cannot separate the love for God and the love for neighbors, we cannot separate the feeling of gratitude to God and to brothers and sisters we have worked together.
However, as God’s people get matured in faith, they tend to care less in receiving appreciation nor seeking gratification from being appreciated. As God’s people grow in faith, God alone becomes their desire and they are satisfied when God alone is lifted on high. For God’s people, gratitude is what you give, not what you receive from others. It is just like what the Bible says about love, and the same goes to God as well. Essentially, the Bible commands us to give thanks and praise not to benefit God himself, but to benefit us. God himself is probably thanking us now. It should be our job to give thanks.
As God’s people in His church, now is the time to find out what we should be doing next. I think that having a time of gratitude and expressing it is what we should be doing as we are closing in the finish line of the conference. Especially this week, I will make a list of those who Hanmaum church should express thanks to. I plan to send a gift, pictures or video recordings to Nashua Baptist Church, and to others who gave precious offering monetary and as a gift. If you can think of someone else Hanmaum church should be giving thanks to, please let me know. I also encourage each one of you to find someone to give thanks to and express your thankful heart.