Jump Start # 225

Philippians 1:3-4 “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all.”

  This week is Thanksgiving week. It’s a time for food, football, family and shopping. But more than that, it’s a time to be “thankful.” This week our Jump Starts will focus upon passages that emphasize “thanks.”

  Our verse today combines two central thoughts found in being thankful: remembering and expressing it. Paul was mindful and thankful for the brethren at Philippi. The church had been good to Paul. In the fourth chapter he reminded them that there was a time when no church was helping him financially, except the Philippians. More than once they sent money so Paul could survive. Paul remembered. Paul thanked God because of them. What is interesting to me is to see Paul thanking God because of the Philippians. He didn’t thank God for money but the church.

  It’s easy for us to be so excited about a gift or some help that we fail to see God’s hand working through the giver and fail to thank God for the people who were there. Stop and think about this for a moment. Some of us had parents who put us through college. When we finished we not only had a degree, but we had no student loans. Some had their folks help them get their first place, maybe even giving them a down payment. Others have had their folks help them purchase a car, interest free or as a gift. We are so happy when that happens. We can even say, “I’m so thankful that I didn’t have student loans…” but like Paul, are we thankful to God for the giver! There is a difference.

  Through the years as we REMEMBER (that is how we become thankful) we realize that there have been people who have helped us—especially spiritually. May there was a low period of your life and that one Christian pulled you up and helped you. Maybe it was a Bible Class teacher who finally made everything connect in your mind or that one sermon that changed your life. Today, we stand a better and stronger people because of those things. Thinking about those things makes us thankful. Where we would be without those things is a scary thought. Some may have quit on the Lord. Some may have drifted out to “la-la-land.” But here we are, rock solid in Jesus. These thoughts make us appreciative, joyous, and thankful.

  The poet John Dunne wrote, “No man is an island…” The thought being, no one is so isolated that we don’t connect, help  and encourage each other. The Mechanic needs the eye doctor and the eye doctor needs the mechanic. And everyone needs Jesus.

  Thankful for people. That’s a constant theme in Paul’s writings. Even at the end of his life, when he is calling for books, and writing material, the apostle is thankful for people. Paul doesn’t thank God much for stuff—it’s people, churches that his heart is touched by.

  Today, reach into you past, and remember someone who helped you. For some, it will be Mom and Dad. But give it some thought. And thank the Lord, not for what you got, but for the people who believed in you, didn’t give up on you, who stood with you and who helped you become who you are today. Some of those people may have passed away. Still, thank God for them, for their hearts that cared and for the goodness that they shared.

  One other thing, being thankful for others, has a way of making us generous ourselves. It’s hard to be a receiver and not turn around and be a giver ourselves.

Roger