Today is the 98th day of the march for giving thanks. I feel like every corner of our hearts and daily life was touched by gratitude. It seems that the benefit of giving thanks is even greater when the whole community is involved. They can learn from each other how to give thanks, express gratitude to one another, and enjoy together the benefit of giving thanks. I see that by giving thanks, broken relationships in family members and in our community are restored. The bond between our church members is getting stronger, and our church is enriched with the fullness of its experience. Just as iron sharpens iron, giving thanks is making gratitude even more abundant in our hearts.
As the whole community was involved in practicing giving thanks, different ways to give thanks were cultivated. Giving thanks became more powerful when it was targeted to someone specific, and the heart of gratitude confessed in person. When sincere gratitude is confessed to someone, it touches not only the person receiving thanks but also the person giving thanks. In the same regard, we can understand how precious it is to have God who is the recipient of all the thanks we can give, and to whom we can confess all of our gratitude.
God wants us to be happy, so having a thankful heart is God’s will for us. Giving thanks leads us to taste what Heaven is like. Our happiness is proportional to our thankfulness. The book of Genesis depicts how our ungrateful heart is. We found complaints even in the garden of Eden which was full of joy. The path to salvation starts with our gratitude to the grace at the Cross. Giving thanks is the start of our spiritual journey and salvation. The ultimate gratitude is sourced from our faith in God. Therefore, gratitude is also the fruit of our faith. In Greek, the word, “grace (Charis)” is the root of the word “thanks (eucharistia)”. Whoever rejoices in the grace of God cannot help but give thanks. Whoever lives a life without gratitude is not rejoicing in the grace of God. So sometimes faith can be measured by the heart of gratitude. Therefore for humanity, and especially for Christians, giving thanks is crucial. This is why God taught us how to give thanks through offering services from the days of the Old Testament. He gave us reasons to be thankful and commanded us to give thanks.
Just by obeying God’s command, “give thanks in all circumstances”, our faith is restored and our daily walk is enriched with living power. If someone is living the life of gratitude, you can see it in their face. They look as though flowers are blossoming in their souls and hearts. Just as the book of Proverbs said in 4:23, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”, and in 7:22, “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones”, I believe that the heart of gratitude will permeate into our physical bodies as well. Even though the March for Giving Thanks has ended, the community will continue the effort until the beginning of the next year. I pray that giving thanks becomes your extension so that you can testify to it and savor its benefits daily.
Following the shepherd..
Pastor Jiwon Choi