"Elijah went a day's journey into the desert, until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it. He prayed for death saying: 'This is enough, O LORD! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.'" 1 Kings 19:4
Faith, though a free gift from God, has responsibilities, and Elijah, caught up in his own fear, forgets this. 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, Elijah and Christians like us too often forget this message. Like children who take the gifts they receive 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 and feel pity for ourselves.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.
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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