This picture of Preaching/Teaching Elder Chauncey Lattimer, his wife Jessie, and children was taken at the Iroquois County Wildlife Reserve by friend Jeanne McMannaway (fall 2011).
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17 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.” (Colossians 3:15-18, NIV)
For what are you most thankful? When Paul wrote to the Christians at Colossae he was obviously a prisoner. At one point he refers to his “fellow prisoner Aristarchus” (4:10) and just a few verses later will ask the recipients to remember his “chains” (4:18). From many perspectives, things were not going well. In the first chapter he would write, “Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church” (1:24). While many dispute how we should interpret this verse, it is clear that Paul believes that the sufferings he has endured in the course of his work were in the interest of these brothers and sisters in Christ – if not the whole church. Based on this knowledge, he is able to rejoice
In the verse quoted above, the idea of being "thankful" is not just an afterthought – “Oh, by the way, be thankful!” Paul’s consistent teaching is that gratitude is intimately associated with peace, and his emphasis at this point is that we should be grateful for the peace Christ confers on us. In fact, we should be so thankful for this peace that we actively pursue its preservation. Thus, the charge should be understood in its most general sense: Be thankful--both to God and to others. Diligently promote peace and harmony within the fellowship.
The sufferings Paul endured for the Gospel took many forms. In addition to be in prison, Paul would remind the Corinthian Christians, “I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again.” He would go on to speak of receiving the maximum non-capital Jewish punishment five times (the forty lashes minus one) and had been beaten with rods and stoned. Yet, this seems to have never been to him a source of sadness. Nor is his attitude that of the ascetics of a later time who inflicted torture on themselves in the belief that they would thereby gain merit with God. Paul's joy in suffering was that he was able to do it for others. He saw suffering as a necessary part of ministry.
But we complain, rather than being thankful! Seldom, when things aren’t going our way, do we reflect on what God might be trying to teach us. Most often we fret over why everyone else can’t understand… why they can’t get their priorities in order. Somehow we have forgotten what the writer of Hebrews wrote concerning God’s use of suffering and hardship as a form of discipline to correct and guide.
So, as we come to the time of year that we most often pause on a grand scale for ‘thanksgiving,’ for what are you thankful? Do we limit our thanksgiving to blessings, successes, rewards, and/or promotions? Yes, we need to be thankful for all of these and more. As someone once wrote, what if when you woke up tomorrow you only had that for which you thanked God today? And what if God was using your hardship and suffering as a very important teaching tool?
Thank you, Lord, for loving me enough to lovingly discipline me!
