Gratitude

"It's a sign of mediocrity when you demonstrate gratitude with moderation."
Robert Benigni, in Newsweek

For the vast majority of people, Thanksgiving 2007 is already a distant memory covered up with stories about Black Friday, last minute shopping, the presents they got and gave on Christmas Day, and now their New Year's soirees. Even for me, that day, like all Thanksgivings past, has faded into obscurity. I have only a blog post to remind me.

The quote above from Benigni though brought Thanksgiving day back to me and all I have to be grateful for this year. Even more so, it reminded me of most of the modern church and how we approach God. And I know deep inside of each of you is a burning desire to know how I made that connection?

Well, let's break it down word by word. What is mediocrity? It is being average, lacking desire to be better, wanting nothing but the status quo for ourselves. Isn't that how most Christians approach their walk with God. Don't we just want to leave things as they currently are? Upsetting the apple cart might mean we have to sell all our possessions and move to Africa. Or that we might have to confront our hidden sin and finally deal with the consequences that have come our way. If it ain't broke, don't fix it? Right? Wrong? We are all broke and there is only one person who can fix us.

And how do we demonstrate gratitude these days? If we were trained well, we write a polite thank you note telling the recipient a little something about their gift and remembering to mention it by name. What about how we demonstrate gratitude to God for all he has done for us? Romans 6:23 tells us that the "wages of sin is death." How many of us really believe that and then fall on our knees expressing unworthiness of the gift of eternal life so that we must not experience the pain of hell? Could it be that we don't actually believe that our sin is worthy of death?

All things in moderation? That is what the world would want you to believe. However, God calls us to something higher and more noble than "moderation." He calls us to a total surrender to him, a complete sacrifice of self to serve him. There is no room for moderation in a life called by God.

"So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of My mouth."
Revelation 3:16 (CSB)

Comments

  1. RickFri Jan 04, 11:35:00 AM EST

    Thank you Jennifer for visiting my blog and entering the little give-away.

    I made the chicago paper? Very interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  2. RickFri Jan 04, 11:36:00 AM EST

    P.S. I love Harleys - and all big bikes. Not sure about the color of this one - but it looks like one big bike.

    ReplyDelete

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