"I tell you, to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away." Lk 19:27
Faith, though a free gift from God, has responsibilities. We must give faith away and that means announcing the freedom that God bestows upon his people. When we fail to accept this Gospel mandate, we risk losing everything. Faith is not about making us more comfortable but about assuring us that because we have been saved, we need to spend God's gift by creating a more just world.
Unfortunately, too often Christians forget this message. Like children who take the gifts they receive at Christmas for granted, we forget that all of life is a gift, and rather than celebrate all that God does for us, we wallow in a shallow place that feels like happiness but that has no substance. We cling to things, people and places as if they belong us. Worse we sometimes use others for our own purposes rather than celebrate who they are before God.
On the other hand, when we remember that faith is a gift, we are filled with gratitude and do not act as if we are entitled to everything we have. When the people of Jesus' day took faith for granted or used it as a tool to oppress others, Jesus was hard on them. Because the Pharisees sometimes used their wealth, education, and power to make themselves seem better than others, Jesus called them whitened sepulchers and condemned them for laying heavy burdens on the backs of the poor without doing a thing to help them. When we dismiss others as weak or sinful, we risk the same condemnation.
Grateful people sometimes bubble over with thanks, but most of the time they are quiet. They listen more than they talk and encourage others to express themselves. By doing this, those to whom they listen become grateful themselves and their gratitude ripples out and washes all those around them. Grateful people cleanse the world by celebrating all that God is and does with and for his people.
Today, listen to someone who thinks poorly of him or herself.
What keeps you from living a grateful life?
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