Word of Encouragement (8/30/2021)
Last Friday, we started meditating on Paul’s prayer in Phlm. 1:4-7: “I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.” We talked about the blessing of having someone to be grateful for. Today, let’s think about that some more.
Let us observe how Paul thanked God for Philemon: “I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers....” Paul did not thank God for Philemon just once; it seems that, whenever Paul remembered Philemon, especially in prayer, he gave thanks to God for him. This is an admirable practice. While we want to be loved and cared for by others much, we can be quite forgetful of the good things they have done for us. We say, “Oh, thanks!” and move on, not caring to know what kind of trouble they might have gone through for us.
We cannot help but wonder what Philemon has done for Paul that he should thank God for him whenever he remembered Philemon. We have a brief description of it in this prayer but not much. In fact, Paul doesn’t mention what Philemon did for him: he drew much joy and comfort from what Philemon did to refresh the hearts of the saints (v. 7). If anything, it was Paul, who did much for him—so much so that Paul later says that Philemon owed him his own self (v. 19).
So, we see that gratitude has much more to do with the grateful disposition of our hearts than the magnitude of the favor shown to us. Some are given much favor but show little gratitude. Others are given little favor, but they show big, heartfelt, lasting gratitude. Most likely, the latter was the case with Paul. It seems like he did not easily forget the kindness others had shown him while many only remember the “bad” things others have done to them.
Cultivating gratitude in our hearts is a valuable practice. As fallen sinners, our natural tendency is to find fault and belittle and become suspicious of others rather than to be grateful to others for their kindness (granted that, sadly, we still need to be wise and cautious because some feign kindness to cheat us or get something from us). The next best to showing love to others for forging and improving our relationship with others is being genuinely thankful and showing sincere gratitude when they show us kindness and favor regardless of how big or small. What would happen if what we see in the people we interact with is the kindness they have shown to us or the gratitude they have expressed to us instead of just their physical features? What would happen to our interaction with our fellow saints if we thank our God always whenever we remember them in our prayers for the good they have done? This is what we do when we write birthday cards to those around us, isn’t it? If that is a good thing to do, why should we do that only once a year?
Gratitude is one of the cardinal Christian virtues. We can say that the fundamental basis of our Christian ethic (besides God’s majesty and honor) is the gratitude for what God has done: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God [which He has shown through our redemption in Jesus Christ], to present your bodies as a living sacrifice...” (Rom. 12:1). This was true even in the Old Testament. In the prologue to the Ten Commandments, the Lord told them why Israel should obey His commandments, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Ex. 20:2). We should remember all His benefits and give thanks to Him always. This will enrich our communion with Him and motivate us to do His will with gladness. When we do the same with others, especially our fellow saints, it will enrich our fellowship and make our hearts full of love and joy. May the Lord cause your heart to overflow with gratitude and bless your life with many beautiful relationships!