As Christians, we have so much to be thankful for. We have a Savior who died so that we could live, granting us grace and mercy that we could never deserve. We have a Heavenly Father who no longer sees us as enemies, but loves us as His children. We have the Holy Spirit who is always moving our hearts and lives closer to Jesus Christ, convicting us of sin and growing that ever-important “fruit of the Spirit.” Our perfect Father has also given us something incredible to our spiritual life that I hope we can all take time to be thankful for today – our brothers and sisters in Christ.
The importance of giving thanks
O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
Then say, “Save us, O God of our salvation,
And gather us and deliver us from the nations,
To give thanks to Your holy name,
And glory in Your praise.”
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
From everlasting even to everlasting.
Then all the people said, “Amen,” and praised the Lord. (1 Chronicles 16:34-36)
The Bible is filled to the brim with thankfulness to God. Of course, what else could people throughout the Bible say when they realized the depth of their sin and the awesomeness of God? But why aren’t we naturally designed to be thankful?
Thankfulness requires a certain humility. It’s a moment of realizing that we’ve either received something we don’t deserve, or we’ve been given something we needed but couldn’t provide for ourselves. To be thankful is to admit “I am not self-sufficient and all-powerful. I am provided things that I wouldn’t have otherwise.”
Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
The more we see how great God is, the more we see how little we truly are. When faced with that truth, we realize that “always give thanks” is something that will start to come naturally. However, there are those people God has placed in our lives we are thankful for because of how God has used them, but they may never know it. I’d like to suggest we change that.
The value of receiving thanks
For good or ill, we measure our efforts by what they produce. Even in places that aren’t as driven by gratification as the West, everyone is naturally compelled to do things they believe have a purpose. Doing so isn’t always about boosting our ego and feeling accomplished, but simply wanting to know that spending our finite days or years on an activity is going to yield something of value.
If nothing else, thank your pastor today
Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. (Galatians 6:6)
Since starting my own blog and podcast ministry, I’ve found a certain love for the work of pastors that I never understood before. Although my understanding of their experience is incredibly limited, I’ve learned to empathize with a man who stands in front of a crowd every week, pouring out what God has laid on his heart and, often, being met with blank stares and silence. Likewise, those pastors who serve apart from the pulpit may rarely know how God is using them in the lives of the flock. Pastors like my own who aren’t in an established, decades-old church have my heart because they may spend years wanting to see the church grow more than it is, learning to be content and wholly reliant on God to do His work.
Of course, a pastor must quickly learn that what they see and what God is actually doing are two very different things. Pastors can’t measure their success by the church’s giving, the attendance at events that aren’t Sunday mornings, or by how people open up to them about their spiritual growth and how God has used that pastor in their lives.
However, that last one certainly helps.
We may often be tempted to think “Of course my pastor knows I’m thankful for him. I wake up early and wrangle two kids every week just to hear the truth of God’s word preached!” However, I’d argue that most pastors don’t know what effect their ministry is having in our lives.
A man has joy in an apt answer, and how delightful is a timely word! (Proverbs 15:23)
Another thing I’ve learned about ministry is just how uplifting a word of encouragement can be. Not as a means of growing my ego and feeling like I’m something special, but because it lets me see that God’s work is truly being done in someone’s life. Not only that, but I get to see that the perfect and holy God of the universe let me play a small part in someone’s growth. Like helping Dad fix the car, there’s a certain excitement in knowing that God is directly using us to grow and mature His people.
So today, if you do nothing else, send a message of encouragement to your pastors. Thank them broadly for how they serve God, or share specific ways God has used that pastor in your life. Let him know that you see Christ more gloriously and more intimately than you did last year, and let your pastors be encouraged that their faithfulness to serving God played a part in it.
Although our gratitude is always aimed at Christ, letting His servants know their work isn’t being wasted can get that person through those dark moments of frustration and discouragement. And who knows, perhaps God will let you speak that encouragement at the time when your pastor needs it the most.
After that, thank another brother or sister
As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. (1 Peter 4:10)
As children of God, one of our goals on this Earth is to serve our family. Out of love and obedience to Christ, we desire to lift one another up in joy and walk beside one another through suffering. Our lives are devoted to Christ, loving and serving His people because Christ loves and serves His people.
If we think back through our spiritual journey, we all have those watershed moments where everything changed. Whether realizing something new about God or understanding something in the Bible we’d never seen before, our lives are loaded with those “Aha!” moments that God uses to grow us closer to Christ.
I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. (1 Corinthians 3:6)
Often, those moments come from the lips and hands of our brothers and sisters. Although it’s always God who is the primary mover in our lives, He often works through others to help us grow and mature. Whether it’s a word of truth or encouragement, or just someone actively serving us out of love for Christ, God regularly uses His people to accomplish something in our lives.
Unlike pastors, however, most Christians don’t set out to draw us closer to Christ. It’s just a natural conclusion to us being obedient to God. By serving Christ, we naturally serve one another.
Spend some time thinking back through big moments in your spiritual walk. What did someone say that God used for days, maybe weeks, bringing those words to mind as He changed your heart? What act of humble service set you on a course to have a deeper relationship with your Savior? Go share it with that person.
Again, this has nothing to do with an ego boost for anyone. We are all humble servants of Christ, hoping to do nothing more than grow in holiness and obedience. We know that God is living and active in His world, and nothing thrills us more than seeing how He works in the lives of His people. And if we get to be an active part of God’s awesome power in a person’s life, we find ourselves just as blessed and encouraged as they are.
Go. Now.
Being thankful can be awkward. It requires humility to get over ourselves and let someone know they did or said something that we needed. It demands that we love someone enough to risk being uncomfortable.
However, our word of thankfulness will be used by God to grow that person. It will give them strength and encouragement to know that God uses them. God may bury that encouragement in their heart, bringing it back up in a dark moment sometime in the future. He may use it immediately to fill them with joy.
Saying “thank you” is a way of serving Christ. Like words and actions that have blessed us, this act can be used by God in ways we may never expect. All we need to do is reach out in obedience and humility to share our thanks with those God has used in our lives.
So whether you do it right now or set a reminder to do it when you have time, make it a point to reach out to your brothers and sisters today, letting them know how God has used their faithfulness and obedience in your life. Don’t let your good intentions slip away because you figured you’d get to it later – serve Christ by thanking whomever He’s setting on your heart as you read this.
- Thank your pastor. If you have something specific he’s said or done, or even a dozen things, share them!
- Think about a conversation or act of service that God has used deeply in your life. Perhaps it’s something that’s stuck with you for years or just something that acted as one domino in a chain of events that brought you to a deeper love for Christ. Whatever it was, reach out to that person and share it with them. Let them be encouraged to know that something they’ve likely forgotten about was used mightily by their amazing God in the life of another believer.
I hope you take the time to do this today. But most of all, I hope thankfulness becomes a normal way that we all serve Christ. God will use our gratitude in mighty ways. He will use it to grow others, and use it to grow us as well.
