Thank You

What is in a ?thank you?? What is the importance of saying thank you? Have you ever thought about that? Ever thought about how saying thank you is loving the giver?

Picture two women walking toward each other on the street. Upon getting close to each other, one says to the other, ?That sure is a beautiful hat that you have on today. I sure do like it.? Upon receiving the compliment, the one wearing the hat reaches up and takes the hat off and looks at it. After examining it she says, ?This old hat is not beautiful, it?s two years old. It?s time I got a new one.? Thus, instead of saying thank you she refused to receive the gift of affirmation. She devalues the person.

We have all done this before, have we not? I know I have.

Let me tell you of a life-changing experience in my life. I was enjoying a Bible study with a group of other people. Because I was enjoying the group I invited a friend to join us. He was not like the others in the group, being that he had killed two people. He was not like the others in the group, being that he openly said, ?I see Jesus as a good person but not as a Savior.? He was not like the others in the group, being that he was in prison at the time. He was like us in that he had feelings and in that he wanted to be accepted. He was like us in that he was willing to share his beliefs.

The Scripture lesson for the evening was from Romans 5:6, ?While we were yet helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.? We were talking about the wonderful gift God gave each of us through Jesus Christ. We talked about His death, the depth of God?s love, and how God was saying to each and every person, ?You are precious, you are special, you have been claimed by God, God will forever love you.?

After talking about this, one person in the group said, ?We all need to thank you, and receive the gift, and thus, love the giver.?

We also talked about how Jesus knelt down and sought to wash the feet of His disciples to show what love looks like, and as a way of saying, ?You are special, I value you, you are precious in the sight of God.?

Again, a person in the group said, ?There is only one right response to this kind of affirmation, and that is to say thank you, and thus receive the gift and love the giver.?

Having had a wonderful time together, one of the members of the group said to me, ?Jim, I enjoyed very much your sermon this morning,? to which I said, ?I don?t think it was my best one.?

It was at this point, Barry, who had killed two people; Barry, who was open about the fact that he saw Jesus only as a good person and not as a Savior; Barry, who was in prison, said, ?That is what is wrong with you Christians, you don?t know how to say thank you.? And he looked at me as he said it and I came to realize that in saying, ?I don?t think it was my best one,? and the woman saying, ?This old hat is not beautiful, I have had it two years and I need a new one,? instead of being acts of humility, were acts of pride.

Instead of being an act of love, it was rather a thoughtless act. Instead of receiving the gift of love and thus loving the giver, I pushed the gift of love away.

Because of this moment in my life I have learned the importance of saying thank you. I have learned to receive the gift offered. I have learned to love the giver. I have learned to complete the act of love.