Many families will gather around tables this weekend, hold hands, and express gratitude for the things and people in their lives. I think this is great because it’s easy to get focused on tasks and forget to slow down and say “thank you” to the people that mean the most to us. We also live in a culture where we are regularly told to be discontent with what we have, and the purpose of that is to sell us things that we do not have. This is even more reason for us to slow down and express gratitude to people in our lives.
The apostle Paul writing from prison to the believers in Philippi began his letter by saying, “Every time I think of you I give thanks to my God” (Phil 1:3, NLT).[1] The apostle Paul uses several different verbs throughout his letters to express the idea of gratitude and thankfulness. One commentator suggests that Paul does this forty-six times in his letters.[2]
Here are some examples (with my added emphasis) of gratitude that Paul expresses in his different letters. “Let me say first that I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith in him is being talked about all over the world” (Rom 1:8, NLT). “I always thank my God for you and for the gracious gifts he has given you, now that you belong to Christ Jesus” (1 Cor 1:4, NLT). “We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Col 1:3, NLT). “We always thank God for all of you and pray for you constantly” (1 Thess 1:2, NLT). “How we thank God for you! Because of you we have great joy as we enter God’s presence” (1 Thess 3:9, NLT). “Dear brothers and sisters, we can’t help but thank God for you, because your faith is flourishing and your love for one another is growing” (2 Thess 1:3, NLT). “Timothy, I thank God for you—the God I serve with a clear conscience, just as my ancestors did. Night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers” (2 Tim 1:3, NLT) “I always thank my God when I pray for you, Philemon,” (Philemon 4, NLT).
Paul had no hesitation expressing his gratitude to the people he ministered to and with. Likewise, we should have no hesitation either. I hope we can carve out (see what I did there?) some time to express our gratitude to people this week. Let’s take time to send someone a card, make a phone call, or send a text message this Thanksgiving weekend so that he or she knows we appreciate him or her.
The apostle Paul expressed his gratitude regularly and I think it’s good that we do the same.
[1] Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
[2] Peter T. O’Brien, The Epistle to the Philippians, The New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. 1991), 56.