Peace in Believing 3

For some time now I have been impressed that one primary reason God gives us His Peace and His Joy in our hearts, as well as other attributes of His character, is so that others can see what He is really like.

The text "In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God concerning you" has been going through my mind. Does that text mean I am to find something 'thank worthy' in every situation? Not really. It doesn't say give thanks for the situation in which you may find yourself. I am becoming more and more convinced it is the 'attitude of gratitude' God is asking me to have. When I give thanks to God I reveal Him to others through His character they see in me. That puts a lot of responsibility on me - in one respect. Yet, according to the text it is also God's will for me. I can choose to give thanks to God. I can choose to be grateful.

Another text came to mind as a companion to the above one I just quoted. "Rejoice in the Lord alway" is for as long a time as is the directive to give thanks. Giving thanks and rejoicing in the Lord - not for what may be going on at the moment but because who God really is and what He is really like - sounds like a recipe to transform me from an old, critical, fault-finding, nit-picking commentary into a person who is reflecting what God is like in word and deep to anyone within the sphere of my influence. WOW!

On another note, who needs to watch 'soap operas' when real life experiences make soap opera dramas seem 'tame'. Last night we took some 'supper' and a birthday cake over to a friends house as a bit of a surprise. While we were eating she got a call stating that her electricity would be turned off by a certain date if she didn't 'pay' immediately. We sort of 'laid it aside' for the moment as we were thanking the Lord for giving our friend another year of life. On our way out after a lovely visit we stopped and picked up her mail and took it back to her (her box is quite a way from the house so we usually try to get the mail to her when we 'come around'.

This morning she called me to tell me that in the mail we picked up for her was a check with sufficient funds to pay her electric bill with some extra. I could only praise the Lord for another specific indicator of His loving watchcare.

Today I took her into town to take care of some business, then we went to get a few groceries. I had picked out a few items for our family and then helped her with her list. When we got to the checkout counter she put all the groceries together and paid for ours as well as hers - a bit of a surprise to me. I couldn't help but thank the Lord again, though, for in reality we did not have money for groceries until the end of the week but someone had given me a few dollars so I was trying to get bread, Orange juice and a few other staples. We were not hungry for we have home canned and home frozen food, but to me it was another indicator of God's love for us.

The kind of God I am learning about more and more does have a care for little things as well as 'big' things in each one of our lives. He has been opening my heart to see more and more how He really cares for me and loves me. He longs for me to become more like Him and I believe that is one reason He has been reminding me of the importance of the attitude of gratitude.

Someone called and wanted to know if we would have time to focus on another picture of God with him this evening. We agreed so I'll close for this time.

In the meantime may I encourage you to join me in 'giving thanks' and 'rejoicing in the Lord' always for this is God's will concerning you - that others can see what God is like through you.

Bringer of Peace.