17 Oct 2011
Thanks but no thanks
How do you go at being thankful with what you have?
How many frustrations do you have with the people around you, the place you live or the amount of money you have?
I feel like I am often a bit frustrated, which is why the following quote from Bonhoeffer’s Life Together, is so challenging.
He is right!
“We pray for the big things and forget to give thanks for the small (and yet really not so small!) gifts we receive daily. How can God entrust great things to those who will not gratefully receive the little things from God’s hand?
If we do not give thanks daily for the Christian community in which we have been placed, even when there are no great experiences, no noticeable riches, but much weakness, difficulty, and little faith – and if, on the contrary, we only keep complaining to God that everything is so miserable and insignificant and does not at all live up to our expectations – then we hinder God from letting our community grow according to the measure and riches that are there for us all in Jesus Christ.”
It reminds me a bit of this passage:
Philippians 4:11-13 (NIV)
I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. [12] I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. [13] I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
While good change management theory suggests it is important to build dissatisfaction with the status quo, I think both Paul and Bonhoeffer are talking about being complete as a person and thankful because of a relationship with Jesus, not dependent on externalities for that completeness and thankfulness.
Its a good challenge!