Thursday, August 15, 2024
A Psalm for giving thanks. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. Psalm 100:1-5
A Cross Shaped Life
In Luke 22:19 Jesus shows us the way to give thanks. He is about to be crucified and He knows it – not the circumstances most would feel thankful for, yet He was thankful for the grace and glory that was to result from the cross. And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
The Greek word for “thanks” in this verse is eucharisteo, meaning “grace.” Jesus took the bread and saw it as grace and gave thanks. He took the bread and knew it to be gift and gave thanks. Eucharisteo, thanksgiving, envelopes the Greek word for grace, charis. But it also holds its derivative, the Greek word chara, meaning “joy.” Charis. Grace. Eucharisteo. Thanksgiving. Chara. Joy. – Ann Voskamp
When we give God thanks for the gifts He gives, He gives another gift back to us – joy. When we can be grateful and joyful in every circumstance, we see things differently. Our perspective changes. Thanksgiving is not just a day, it is a way of life. That means that we don’t have to wait for things to change or get better or search endlessly for some elusive fairy tale called joy. It is here and now, in every circumstance, when we can give thanks to God.
A heart of gratitude will be a content heart. Pain, gratitude, and contentment can actually co-exist even though it may not be our favorite trio of feelings. Being thankful in all things certainly doesn’t mean we are thankful for the circumstanceswe are in. It means that – in spite of the circumstances we are thankful because we know and understand who God is. In every circumstance God is at work for some purpose. It may simply be for us to learn to be thankful in everything. Or it may be that this circumstance you are in right now is a tiny piece of the miracle He has ahead in your life. Until we can be thankful in each circumstance – or piece of the miracle - we cannot see the next piece. Every little piece makes the whole, and its all important. Jesus is the only way we are able to give thanks at all times and in all circumstances. Thanksgiving to Him will bring us the joy we so desperately need.
Living a life of thanksgiving in all things is key to living the cruciform life – a life that takes on the shape of the cross. When this happens, we have a vertical life of loving God with all our heart, soul, and strength, which leads to the horizontal life of loving our neighbor as ourselves. The love of God spills out of our cross shaped life to others. Every day.
