Showing gratitude
“Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord” (Matthew 25:23).
Over the pandemic, there have been many expressions of gratitude, especially for the NHS and the smaller and simpler ways people have shown kindness. Paul’s words in Colossians 3:14-15 have always impressed me: “But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.” The experience of the love and peace of God should produce thankfulness in us. Gratitude is the quality of being thankful and showing appreciation for kindness. It should not be restricted to those we really like or withheld from those we don’t like so much. It should be freely and joyfully expressed. Gratitude is not silent: it is vocal. Paul also writes in Philippians 4:6, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” We are to be marked by a spirit of thankfulness in prayer because we have so much to be thankful for. Then, towards the end of the chapter, the apostle records his own gratitude for the kindness of the Philippians, “Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only” (v. 15).
We generally think of gratitude in terms of our thankfulness to God. But one of the manifestations of love towards God is our love towards others. John highlights this in 1 John 4:20: “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” In the same way, our gratitude towards God is witnessed in our appreciation towards others. Sometimes, we can be very articulate in blessing God and very dismissive and critical of our brothers and sisters in Christ, and forget the kindnesses we receive. I remember an occasion when two of our granddaughters were young and had started squabbling and criticising each other. I asked them if, in turn, they could tell me five nice things about each other. It didn’t start well! But then one of the girls, in a touching way, began listing the things she found attractive about her sister.
It is powerful to see the gratitude of Christ. He often expressed His thankfulness to the Father (Luke 10:21). And He was thankful for the loaves and fishes provided by the young boy, for Mary’s act of worship, the Samaritan leper, the centurion with great faith, the widow sacrificing her two coins. In Matthew 25 He demonstrates his gratitude for His good and faithful servants; and later, for those who showed kindness to His people with the words, “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me” (see vv. 31-40). The Lord gives us tremendous examples of thankfulness and gratitude, and teaches us to be a thankful people.
“God is not unjust to forget your work and labour of love” (Hebrews 6:10),
neither should we be.
