Grattitude

Gratitude: the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful

O Lord, open my lips,
    and my mouth will declare your praise.
 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
    you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Psalm 51:15-17 ESV

 

     This section of the Psalms comes from one of the most famous confessions in the Bible.  This chapter deals with King David’s confession of adultery with Bathsheba and having her husband killed to cover up his transgression.  The famous words of this Psalm is found in verse 10;

 

Create in me a clean heart oh God

And renew a right spirit within me

 

To be fair, this whole section of the Psalm is littered with talk about what is an appropriate sacrifice.  Sacrifice is not only our position and how we interact with God, but also our position and how we interact with others.  So one might be thinking how does sacrifice and gratitude go together.  I hope to get there by the end of this blog and just a heads up, it might have something to do with worship.

 

   My first observation is this, God is not only implying but telling us that we can not buy Him off.  No matter how hard we try, whether it is through our tithe, doing “Godly” things, or not doing something that is ungodly.  Spoiler alert, since God created everything, He already owns it.  We can not give something to God He already owns because it is already His and we are to be good managers of what He gives us.  If we were able to buy God off, it means two things.  The first one is that He isn’t fully God and in incompetent.  This also means we have more power and authority than we need, deserve, or are able to handle.  The second idea is that it makes us manipulative, only doing and giving things for our own benefit.  Sure there could people out there who are truly ultraistic, but at the end of the day, most if not all of us are in it for what we can get out of it.  If we could buy our way to God or His love, how many of us would beg, borrow, steal or just flat out lie to get what we want, no matter if it is with God or others?  My gut feeling is that we have already tried that and eventually it catches up with us in a bad way.

 

   My second observation about gratitude is that it is about accountability.  Gratitude is more than just being grateful or giving thanks.  Accountability is admitting to mistakes, growing/maturing from them, and doing what we are responsible for.  When King David was confronted by the Prophet Nathan about his adultery, David could of pulled out his king card and had Nathan disposed of too.  Instead, David went and he responded to Gods rebuke of his actions and sought forgiveness for what he had done.  He also owned up to the consequences, and was a father to the son he had with Bathsheba and the family strife that continued through out the rest of his life. 

 

   Accountability is doing the things we know we should do, Whether it is how we spend our money, to what we eat, being a good spouse to ones significant other, being a parent to ones children.  Accountability is more about being proactive than reactive.  There are always going to be things that catch us off guard, but when we are proactive, and seek to take care of things that are within in our control, life tends to go better.

 

  My third observation is that gratitude is more than just the gifts and actions.  Don’t get me wrong, actions, along with gifts/sacrifice along with the words that we speak are important, but the more important thing is our attitude or the condition of our heart.  How often do we do or say things as a form of self protection or to make us feel better?  As people, we tend to do or say things to provide either some sort of diversion so people do not see our weaknesses or those spots that are really sensitive.  Or how about when we do things to gain some sort of good karma and to try and right something we did that we feel guilty or ashamed about.  When we do this, we fall into two traps.  The first one is that we make ourselves out to be better people than we really are.  It is more about the show, and less about the go.  In essence, we try and impress people with our words, actions and our gifts.  At the end of the day, we fall down exhausted because no matter what we do or say will ever be enough.  Then we will become burnt out and jaded,  The second trap is that we try and cover up some sort of guilt.  Trust me on this, the guilt and shame will never go away when we do this, and it will send us further into depression and the spinning will keep getting faster. 

 

  My fourth observation is this, gratitude is more than giving gifts or doing good works, or saying thank you.  God doesn’t want our gifts or our words, not that these are unimportant, but He wants us fully committed to Him and His calling.  Gratitude is not only being thankful for what others or God has done, but it is the giving of our whole selves.  This means the good, bad and things that we do not want to see the light of day.  Because of free will, we can decide whether we disown God and suffer the consequences, or embrace Him and His will.  We can call it many things, such as holiness, perfection, sanctification, Christian maturity, but at the end of the day, It is allowing God to restore His full image in our lives and for us to be fully present not only with Him but others also. 

 

  I will leave you with this.  True gratitude not only requires, but demands a response.  This is where worship comes in.  Worship is more than just singing a few songs and hearing a sermon and then walking away to live our lives.  When God is fully shaping us back into His image, we live our lives differently.  Its not that these actions saves us, but it is a response to what God has done and is doing in our lives.  Our gifts and sacrifices can not save us, but it is a response to the one who can and that is Jesus.  Our worship, gifts, and even our sacrifices should point back to God the Creator of all and to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.

 

Questions

   What are the things we do or say that hide habits, hurts, and the unspeakables?

   In our accountability, are we reactionary, or proactive?

   How often do we try and earn our salvation?

Advent

Advent; the arrival of a notable person, thing, or event

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and let her cry

That her warfare is ended

That her iniquity is pardoned,

That she has received from the Lord’s hand

Double for all her sins.

A voice cries;

“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;

Make straight in the desert a highway for our God,

Every valley shall be lifted up,

And every mountain and hill made low

The uneven ground shall be level,

And the rough places a plain

And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,

And all flesh shall see it together

For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

 

Isaiah 40:1-5 ESV

 

   I was at a local park recently and seeing the bare trees and the light snow on the ground got me thinking.  My smart thought was that even in the barrenness of winter, there is still a beauty in nature.  I have noticed that with the snow on the ground and the bare trees, things seem to echo a little more and I can hear things not only more clearly, but often things that are far off can be heard like the whistle of a train horn or traffic on a distant road.  I can see through the woods better because the leaves are not acting as a shield or cover for things that reside in the woods.  It got me thinking what does this idea of barreness affect our lives, but play into Advent. 

  My first observation is that this idea of bareness forces us into this fight or flight concept.  We can either fight the bareness of our lives by changing habits, such has praying harder, reading self help books or the Bible more, to attending small groups, and even seeking counseling.  None of these things are bad, but in our fighting are we keeping the real issues at arms length and not addressing it.  For me, I can eat less and exercise more to lose weight, but it still doesn’t deal with the issue of that I find comfort in food because it doesn’t tell me no.  The flight concept is either not recognizing the problem or doing nothing about it because it is to hard.  How often do we not deal with a problem because it is to hard, or we have to change something that we hold dear, or admit that we are just wrong.  I know I don’t like to be wrong and how can I be wrong if I don’t admit to it.

   My second observation is that sometimes we just need to embrace the suck.  If 2020 has taught us anything, that is embracing the suck is necessary.  It does not mean we throw are hands up in the air and doing nothing, because that adds to the mess.  Instead it is moving forward, picking our battles, and extending grace to ourselves and others.  Embracing the suck forces us to be in the present and the here and now, and not fast forwarding to 2021.  To paraphrase my favorite narcissistic television doctor, Gregory House, things change and its not always for the better.  A presidential election hasn’t made things better and I am not so sure a change in the calendar year will provide the change we are looking for, but what can make it better is our attitude and how we treat others and ourselves.  Do we extend grace, love and truth, or do we extend, hate, bitterness and anger?

  My third observation on why bareness can be beautiful is because we have the opportunity to embrace our own humanity.  This means that we have the ability to recognize the good in our lives, and things that are not so good.  When we embrace our own humanity, we can embrace not only how others see us, but how God sees us.  This means that those areas in our life that are painful, we can start to deal with them.  Whether it is a relationship or expectations that have not been fulfilled, we can take a look at those and start the healing process.  When we embrace our humanity, we realize just how selfish we are and how our disobedience and sin has altered our relationship with others and with God.  Thankfully God forgives and He can make all things new. 

   So one might wondering what connection bareness has to Advent.  Being barren has the connotation of expectation.  With bareness, we can either expect that things will stay the same and nothing will change, or there is the expectation that things will improve and that spring and new life will eventually come.  Advent is the same way, because it is about expectation.  Advent is about the expected coming of the promise Messiah.  The nation of Israel held on to the promise of the Messiah will come and make things right.  The Messiah did come in the form of Jesus being born in the manger.  Just like the nation of Israel, we are in the season of Advent right now, expecting Jesus to come back again. This time when He comes back, it is to gather His people and commune with Him eternally.  Advent is not only about preparing ourselves for the coming of Messiah, but also embracing and sharing Gods grace, joy, hope and love. 

Questions to Ponder

    What does it mean to embrace the suck?

    How does our expectation inform us on how we live?