Thankfulness

We live in a society, that teaches us from an early age: „You have the right to .. You have the right to be treated fairly, to be well educated, to say your opinion anytime, to have a good life, you have the right to do with your life what you want to.”

As I started working in Germany, there seemed to be something I couldn´t understand. Caring about patients that received the best, up-to date medical care, were treated right and mostly with very good results, but despite of this they seemed to be unhappy.. Even when they got the best one-bed room in the hospital, newspapers were brought to their rooms, family could visit them anytime and the personal was very friendly and kind. One patient even wanted a guarantee from our professor, that her heart condition will not reappear!

One day I grabbed a medical magazine and on the front page it said: „All patients have right to be healthy!” That shocked me. Do they really mean that? How about all the disabled, chronic-ill patients? How about their rights? I suddenly realised, that patients in Germany (at least some of them) really believe they have the right to be perfectly healthy! Not that they have the right to receive a medical care, but to be healthy! This was completely new concept to me. I was brought up in a culture, that taught us, that health is a precious gift, something you cannot earn, but you are supposed to be thankfull for it. But after reading this I could at least understand why our patients behaved the way they did. They didn´t want to get their sickness under control, they expected to be perfectly healthy again. Something we couldn´t grant them.

This attitude is opposite to the biblical attitude of thankfulness. When you outwardly live the attitude: ”I have the right” you cannot inwardly experience thankfulness.

I know one man, who gave up all His legitime rights, who left Heaven voluntary and said to God: „Father, it´s a privilage for me to go down to the earth to bring your children, my brothers and sisters, back to you.” He could have said: „ I am God, I have the right to stay here, enjoying the worship of angels and the beauty of this place forever.” But He made a different choice. He gave all this up, in order to bring you and me back home. He became poor, homeless, meek, persecuted, tortured for our sake. There are so many things in our lives we can be thankfull for. Our families, friends, our jobs, churches, homes with running water and electricity, medical care, social system... In every situation give Him thanks. If you cannot think of anything else, thank Him for His Love, that saved you, thank Him for His good plans for your life, thank Him for what He is doing right now , even if you don´t understand it yet.

Why is it so vital to live a lifestyle of thankfulness?

-       It brings peace to our hearts and minds. (Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Phil 4,6-7)

-       It brings you into God´s Presence. (Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise, give thanks to Him and praise His name. Psalm 100,4)

-       It is God´s desire for your life. (Give thank in all circumstances, for this is God´s will for you in Jesus Christ 1.Thes 5,18)

-       This lifestyle proclaims and testifies that God is good. (Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, His love endures forever 1.Chron 16,34)

-       It blesses and restores you, your house and your nation. (For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were before,' says the Lord Jer 33,11)

Later in this chapter is says, that God will fulfill the good promise He made to His people, and He will be called the Lord, Our Righteous Savior. We can choose. We might fight for our ´rights´ our whole life, or we may choose to say, that the Lord is our righteous Savior.

I was recently discouraged in my workplace, because I felt the amount of work was not divided fairly. It was also not just a feeling, it was a fact. So I decided to stand up for my ´rights´ and speak for myself the next day. But the moment I decided so, I lost my peace. So I had to get on my knees, to ask the Lord what to do. He didn´t tell me, He just asked me a simple question: „Do you really believe, that this person decides the amount of work you get?” Of course not! You are in charge, Lord, You alone decide how many patients shall come to me and I do believe You will give me strength for every task You give me! It si a privilege to work for You! I surrender to Your will, You are my boss! And bang! Peace filled my heart like an oil fills the jar. Just because I proclaimed, that He is my righteous Savior!

The next day I said nothing. In the morning my boss came to me and said the exact two sentences I had prepared for my defense earlier! Word for word! I was amazed and thankfull once again.

„And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Col 3,17