In the first week of the Naked Love series senior Pastor Jim White shares an example of how God shows His naked love for us, His children. In the second installment, we are given insight on how we can show our naked love to God. Using a hierarchy diagram charting motivation for serving God, Pastor White notes gratitude as the second motivational response to God, just one level above self-interest.
Gratitude. Per definition, it is the “quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful.” It is no secret that emotions are the driving force in nearly every aspect of life, but how often do we consider the feeling of being grateful as a motivational response to do something? How do you feel when you are grateful for something? Are you overwhelmed with a sense of appreciation that catapults you into a state of longing to save the world? Or is your grateful state the equivalent of a temporary good mood, without the desire to “pay it forward?” Now, think about how you feel towards the person to whom the gratitude should be directed. The feeling towards the person often fades even more rapidly than the feeling towards the action. While we appreciate the deed, we often treat the person the same way we would if nothing ever happened. When we are grateful to someone we spend all immediate efforts to show them our appreciation, and then we’re done. Sadly, it seems we treat God the same way.
“But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.” (1 Chronicles 29:14, NIV). We serve out of gratitude, we give out of gratitude, we act out of gratitude; but that all stops when we stop being gracious. We act as if we are only to thank God for the big things; we are entitled to the little things so He’s just fulfilling his commitment to us with these blessings. Wrong. We are to thank God for everything, from every drop of rain to every ray of sunshine. We should thank God for every close parking spot at the mall that saves us from walking in the blistering cold with bulky shopping bags, and we should thank God for the proper functioning of our legs when we have to climb seven flights of stairs.
In developing this sense of gratitude we will undoubtedly sharpen our mindset on serving. What does that mean? It means we never stop giving. Notice that the verse says “and we have given you only what comes from your hand.” Why is it so hard to give to God, when what we’re giving doesn’t even come from us in the first place? It is our selfishness that prevents us from giving back to God what he so graciously placed in our care. Whether it is our time, our teaching skills, our singing voice, our proficiency in mathematics, or our financial abundance we are all blessed with gifts from God that are to be given back to glorify Him.
Let’s start practicing something I’ve christened the On Purpose Strategy. We were unwittingly introduced to this approach last week as we were challenged to love on purpose. Hosea was commanded to love his philandering wife Gomer, with an unwavering affection that was present in the same way when he and his wife were best friends or worst enemies. Although this was intended to demonstrate God’s love for us as we continue to sin against him, we are also challenged to love each other on purpose, to make the effort to love people when we would rather hate them. Loving people on purpose may be part of the advanced stage of OPS, so let’s work on mastering the show gratitude on purpose stage of this strategy.
Instead of saying a simple “Thank You” when someone shows us kindness we can show our gratitude by repaying the favor. In the seventh chapter of Luke, we are told of a woman who absolutely lost her mind when she met Jesus. Every ounce of etiquette left her body as she expressed her appreciation for Jesus and what He had done for her in the most raw and most real manner possible. If she can do that for Jesus, no holds barred, what’s stopping us from singing in the choir or volunteering once a week?
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