Sharing Our Gratitude

This morning in church we learned about the next tool in our Christian toolbox – Gratitude. This seems like an obvious one. We all know it is important to be grateful for the blessings we have been given.

But Pr. Dave shared an aspect of gratitude I had really thought of before – though I do practice it here on my blog every Thursday with my Thankful Thursday poem. It isn’t enough to feel gratitude in our hearts and keep that feeling to ourselves. We need to share our gratitude with others. We need to let others know that we are grateful for our blessings and that we are grateful for the greatest blessing of all, the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. We also need to let others know when we are grateful for what they have done for us.

This afternoon we are blessed with an opportunity to let Pr. Dave know how grateful we are that he has come from Fargo to be our lead pastor. We are having a special church service celebrating his installation as our pastor and his certification as a pastor in our denomination, Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ.

The apostle Paul told us to:

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-7 (NIV).

No matter what happens in life, there is always something to rejoice in and be grateful for, and that is the love of God. It is in sharing our gratitude with others that we point them to the love of Christ. This is definitely one of our Christian tools that is so important to take out of the toolbox and use. Some people may not be willing to listen to our theological arguments for believing in Jesus, but if we rejoice in the Lord always they cannot argue with the gratitude that is in our hearts.