SAYING THANK YOU

 SAYING THANK YOU

First of all, I want to say thank you to each of you who take the time to read my articles each week. I believe that our God is inspiring me to write them and put them out on the dates I do because someone needs to hear that particular message at that particular time. So thank you so much for opening them and reading them. I love you, the body of Christ, and those who join us in that body each and every day. And I pray that my messages are a help to you.  

 

It came to mind the other day that many people have never really been taught to say thank you for items or services rendered. People seem to believe that others do things because they WANT to do them. But Godly actions have a different motivation. They are things we do because they are right and honorable, and we do them for those reasons, whether or not we WANT to do them.

 

People have to be taught to WANT to do good things. If we aren’t taught to make a habit of doing honorable things, then by nature, we will serve our own desires first, above those desires of our Creator.  Very few people will put another person’s feelings or needs above their own, but God taught His people to do that very thing, and Jesus emphasized it to us in his actions. In Sunday school, we were taught what was called “The Golden Rule:” “Do unto others what you would want to be done unto you,” and the other old adage, “Put yourself in their shoes.” These concepts were not only taught in Christian churches but in other philosophies and religions as well.

 

Ethical and altruistic motivation and actions don’t seem to come automatically, and if they do, they are quickly overridden by selfishness as children grow and encounter opposition and look for ways to avoid or counter the perceived enemies. It is at this point that wisdom needs to be taught as a necessary component of love and giving. If we let the ideology of “doing what we want” take over, then we risk letting arbitrary ethics rule rather than the wisdom which is spoken and written by God.

 

Since our society has strayed from Biblical morality and abandoned many ethical and honorable ways of conducting our lives, many kindnesses and courtesies have been thrown to the realm of arbitrary, subjective, and random, rather than the normal way to interact as a Bible-believing human being.

 

This change in behavior has been a long and insidious process, and even those of us who were taught right have slipped into ways that are not Biblically correct. This new behavior is all to the detriment and deterioration of our cultures and society at large. Simply put, we need to bring back the Biblical kindnesses, ethics, and ways of Jesus in our own lives and the lives of our children. Saying “thank you” is only a miniscule start to taking back our lives with Biblical principles on purpose.

 

Being thankful shows APPRECIATION. If we aren’t thankful, DEPRECIATION sets in. Francine can show appreciation for her husband, but if she doesn’t, his value starts to depreciate in her eyes, and if it goes far enough, pretty soon, she’s asking for a divorce. At this point, Gerard, her husband, has little to no, hope for recovery. Fortunately, situations like this can often be prevented by the consistent application of two simple words in the relationship, “Thank you.”

 

Relationships appreciate or depreciate in proportion to thanksgiving.

 

When someone shows us how much they appreciate us, we’re willing to do more. God’s relationship with us is also better when we tell Him thank you. Awesome benefits come with expressing appreciation and thanksgiving.

 

By truly thanking the Lord from our hearts, He becomes bigger in our minds. We become more aware of the miracles, the mercy, the healing, and the deliverance He brings into our everyday lives. David says: “I will magnify him with thanksgiving” (Ps. 69:30). We know we can’t really make God any bigger than He already is, but we certainly can make Him bigger in our own thinking and believing. We make the Lord’s presence larger in our lives by saying thank you and showing appreciation.

 

How much better would we feel if people thanked us more often? Think about it. It means they, first of all, had to take notice of you. Saying “thank you” means a decision, effort, and positive action is made in your direction. Showing a little appreciation seems like a very small thing, but actually, it’s pretty great. It’s like a baby compliment for something you said or did, or are. And who doesn’t need a few more kudos and compliments now and then?

 

Ephesians 5 tells us how to be followers of God: “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour (vv. 1-2).

 

“For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (vv. 8-11).

 

“Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is” (vv. 14-17).

 

“Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; submitting yourselves one to another in the fear [respect] of God” (vv. 20-21).

 

If you’re already keeping the “Golden Rule” toward others, and putting yourselves in others shoes in your mind, and always remembering to say thank you, then this message is not for you. But if you needed a little reminder, like most of us do at times, then I expect this will be a much better week than the last one, just because of you and God, and letting the Lord “work in us to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13-14).

 

I pray that we will see God bigger, our relationships with people will be richer, and our personal lives will be more blessed because of what we do with this message this week.

 

Love, Carolyn

 

Check out some of my other writings: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=wings+carolyn+molica&crid=EZNJZZUP3KHG&linkCode=ll2&linkId=db88efb13727dcb484eb29f5b1683284&sprefix=wings+carolyn+molica%2Caps%2C353&tag=jmbcsds-20&ref=as_li_ss_tl