The Importance of Gratitude

[Apologiaphoenix]

Give thanks!

Link

[One Bad Pig]

"Pure application" can be intellectually "lightweight" but very challenging at the same time. I mean, your whole post here is pure application. It's easy to give thanks when things are going well, but rather more difficult when things aren't going so well.

[TheWall]

Gratitude takes time to develop. I have found it developed when I though I would lose things and people who were close to me.

[Cow Poke]

"Pure application" can be intellectually "lightweight" but very challenging at the same time. I mean, your whole post here is pure application. It's easy to give thanks when things are going well, but rather more difficult when things aren't going so well.

In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God...

(and Corrie ten Boom comes to mind, thanking the Lord for the fleas...)

[Apologiaphoenix]

"Pure application" can be intellectually "lightweight" but very challenging at the same time. I mean, your whole post here is pure application. It's easy to give thanks when things are going well, but rather more difficult when things aren't going so well.

Sure, but that's when it's most important. What I mean by pure application alone is go to many churches today and the whole point of the Bible is all about how you are to be a good person and all of that. God is brought in on occasion if need be.

[Cow Poke]

It's kinda funny this would come up to day.

Since my daughter is still recovering, I've been helping out with her kids - I pay the cell phone bill for them (on my family plan).

Her kids have always been so appreciative of everything, ALWAYS saying thank you, and sending me nice "I love you" crap.

But her youngest - 13 year old spongebob - doesn't seem to get it. I paid for him to take a trip with his school club to Pennsylvania. They got stuck in a layover in Charlotte Airport, and he texted me to ask if I could put some money on his bluebird card for lunch. I did - never heard a thank you. I asked him to text me when he landed in Pennsylvania - never heard a word. I text him to let me know when they got back to Houston - nothing.

So, I texted him this morning, and told him I was shutting off his phone 4 hours (I can do it with the flip of a digital switch) because he doesn't seem to be able to communicate with any of us unless he needs something. I explained that the reason he has the phone is so we can communicate with him, not so he can play games and "ask for stuff".

My wife explains it as "well, he's a boy". His sisters BOTH are SO thankful and appreciative of everything.

And this....

Sure, but that's when it's most important. What I mean by pure application alone is go to many churches today and the whole point of the Bible is all about how you are to be a good person and all of that. God is brought in on occasion if need be.

Spongebob treats me like I sometimes treat God.

[Apologiaphoenix]

It's kinda funny this would come up to day.

Since my daughter is still recovering, I've been helping out with her kids - I pay the cell phone bill for them (on my family plan).

Her kids have always been so appreciative of everything, ALWAYS saying thank you, and sending me nice "I love you" crap.

But her youngest - 13 year old spongebob - doesn't seem to get it. I paid for him to take a trip with his school club to Pennsylvania. They got stuck in a layover in Charlotte Airport, and he texted me to ask if I could put some money on his bluebird card for lunch. I did - never heard a thank you. I asked him to text me when he landed in Pennsylvania - never heard a word. I text him to let me know when they got back to Houston - nothing.

So, I texted him this morning, and told him I was shutting off his phone 4 hours (I can do it with the flip of a digital switch) because he doesn't seem to be able to communicate with any of us unless he needs something. I explained that the reason he has the phone is so we can communicate with him, not so he can play games and "ask for stuff".

My wife explains it as "well, he's a boy". His sisters BOTH are SO thankful and appreciative of everything.

And this....



Spongebob treats me like I sometimes treat God.

So how are you going to treat Spongebob?

[Cow Poke]

So how are you going to treat Spongebob?

After I got his attention, I dished out some Grace.

[Apologiaphoenix]

That's how you're treated isn't it?

[Cow Poke]

That's how you're treated isn't it?

More Grace than I ever deserve.


(I guess that's what makes it "Grace", eh?)

[Apologiaphoenix]

If you ever deserved any of it, it wouldn't be grace would it?

[One Bad Pig]

Sure, but that's when it's most important. What I mean by pure application alone is go to many churches today and the whole point of the Bible is all about how you are to be a good person and all of that. God is brought in on occasion if need be.

Oh. That's not what I get out of "pure application" at all.

[Apologiaphoenix]

What do you have in mind?

[One Bad Pig]

What do you have in mind?

Pure application would be a focus on how we can apply the particular passage at hand to living our life in Christ. The setting of a passage and what happens and how it fits in history is good from an intellectual standpoint, but on a practical level, unpacking just want it means to, e.g., "take up your cross and follow Me" complete with illustrative examples is much more pertinent to the average believer on a daily basis. We are not put on this earth to become master exegetes; we are here to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, learning to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves.

[Apologiaphoenix]

For me, pure application is taking a passage and ignoring the historical and theological and social context and learning nothing about that and jumping straight to "What does it tell me about me today?"