“Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:4)
Thinking about it now, I’ve never been good at scavenger hunting. In fact, I have memories of looking at my friends finding all these hidden prizes with envy and fascination. To this day, I cannot say that finding things is one of my fortes. However, I do think I have finally gotten a handle on how to find the hidden treasures in life known as gratitude.
‘Gratitude’ is only found with lowered, humble hearts.
With a self centered perspective, we become blind to such ‘treasures’
Whilst easy to say, it is so hard to apply and carry out by ourselves alone. After all, it contradicts our very nature. Fortunately for us, there is someone who is so good at helping us: our God. He would know what we need to do to be happy since He created us.
The journey of faith starts with lowering our hearts. The act of admitting God is an act of humility, and so is looking at ourselves in front of the cross. Hence, gratitude is realized for those who accept Jesus Christ. Even though the present situation does not change, tears will start to fall from our eyes and hearts when we accept Jesus as our savior. Such gratitude is something the world cannot take away.
As we begin our faith journey, we start to free ourselves from self-centeredness. With God’s grace, we begin to see who we are and our surrounding world from His perspective. Specifically, there is something we will begin to realize as we fix our eyes on the creator God: ‘there is nothing in this world that is mine to begin with or intrinsically belongs to me’. If God decides to take it away, that’s only rightful; everything we enjoy at this moment is due to His grace.
An arrogant heart from self centeredness makes our life hell in big and small ways: hell of unhealthy relationships, hell of misunderstanding, dispute and argument, hell in my heart. Sometimes as the victims, sometimes as the perpetrators, we end up pulling each other and ourselves into deeper and deeper darkness of hell. God wants to save us from this: you can call to Him for help. He will come to our aid.
There seems to be so many benefits from starting Mokjang meetings by sharing what you are thankful about. Not only is it a healthy practice for faith journey, but it also becomes the building blocks for turning our Mokjang into God’s kingdom. I encourage you to look for the treasures of thankfulness, not only in the past week, but also throughout the days gone by. Then, you will experience that Mokjang sharing time becomes more fruitful and the depth of gratitude becomes deeper.
Following the shepherd…
Pastor Jiwon Choi