Spirituality of Gratitude E-Book

Joshua Choonmin Kang

• Herausgeber: IVP Formatio
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Seitenzahl: 146

Beschreibung

- 2015 Readers' Choice Award Winner"Deep gratitude springs up from within," writes pastor and bestselling Korean author Joshua Choonmin Kang. "To become truly grateful is incredibly difficult, but the difficulty of the process makes the results all the more lovely."God invites us to enter into this world of thankfulness at every moment in our lives, even in the hard times—perhaps especially then. Pastor Kang continues: "Gratitude heals us and holds us, tethering us to one another, offering us joy and strength." As with Deep-Rooted in Christ, this book has fifty-two short chapters that can be read in weekly sabbath reflection or daily devotional use. So come and discover a spirituality of gratitude.

Leseprobe

www.IVPress.com/books

Contents

1 An Invitation to the Spirituality of Gratitude

Part One: A Source of Grace

2 The Grace of Endurance

3 The Grace of Descending

4 The Grace of Isolation

5 The Grace of Humility

6 The Grace of Brokenness

Part Two: What We Are Grateful For

7 Problems

8 Thorns

9 Vulnerability

10 Deficiency

11 Being Crumbled

12 Freedom to See the Good

13 Slowness

Part Three: The Power of Gratitude

14 Learning to See the Little Things

15 Softening Hearts

16 Hope for the Hopeless

17 Tasting the Bitter and the Sweet

18 The Opportunity to Learn

19 The Gift of Time

20 The Shadow of God’s Hand

21 The Grace to Restart

22 The Importance of Roots

23 Shaping Our Relationships

Part Four: The Spiritual Gifts of Gratitude

24 The Wisdom of Letting Go

25 Solitude

26 Encouragement

27 Rebuilding Broken Bridges

28 The Power of Expression

29 Creative Responsiveness

30 Obstacles

31 Transforming the Mundane

32 Humility: The Root of Gratitude

Part Five: The Path to Gratitude

33 The Key of Prayer

34 The Gift Hidden in Difficulties

35 The Love of the Cross

36 The Cross and the Resurrection

37 Beauty

38 A Mother’s Love

39 Mystery

40 Good Books

41 An Art of Life

42 The Joy of Playing

43 Strange Places

44 Silence

45 A Holy Touch

46 Contentment

47 Tears

48 The Comma

49 Holy Darkness

50 A Quiet Spirit

51 Holy Curiosity

52 The Glory of God

Acknowledgments

Praise for Spirituality of Gratitude

About the Author

More Titles from InterVarsity Press

Copyright

1

An Invitation to the Spirituality of Gratitude

Deep gratitude springs up from within. To become truly grateful is incredibly difficult, but the difficulty of the process makes the results all the more lovely.

I recently experienced a very difficult season of life. I felt helpless and hopeless, weakened and powerless from all that was happening. I had not been blind to my own frailty, but it was during those days that I realized what a finite being I truly am. Yet throughout, I yearned for gratitude. I wanted to be grateful and for that gratitude to sustain me.

Now, I am not talking about being excited by the tragedies that befall us. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to be thankful for hardship or tragedy or pain during a crisis. How can a person diagnosed with cancer be grateful for the cancer? How can one be thankful for losing a loved one in a tragic accident? If anyone knows gratitude in that circumstance it is not for the crisis itself, but for God’s sovereignty in the midst of suffering. We know that God would not allow a tragedy to happen to us for the purpose of revealing his sovereignty, but his sovereignty can transform a tragedy. Whatever is lifted up to God can be made beautiful.

The Scriptures teach that “God is love” and that God loves sovereignly; he knows everything in his love. The only thing we can do is be grateful for who he is and what he has done. But it is only when we trust God’s sovereign love that we can be thankful for all things (Romans 8:28). So our gratitude is founded on God’s character. Colossians 2:7 reminds us of this truth, for when we are deeply rooted in Jesus Christ we overflow with gratitude.

Roots define the future of the tree. In order to harvest abundant, good fruit one must take good care of a tree’s roots. But the signs of a dying tree can be easily missed, and unless a person is a tree expert, root disease is not always diagnosed. Infected leaves—the evidence of disease—can be pruned, but that alone is not the cure. If the root system is not addressed, the tree will die.

Grumbling and blaming are the fruit of the sick roots in our hearts, and the evidence of decay is revealed in our words. The call to gratitude is the invitation to a life of tending and guarding the inner gardens of our hearts, remembering that “the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (Matthew 12:34). Whether we are thankful does not depend on our circumstances, but on our hearts.

Gratitude heals us and holds us, tethering us to one another, offering us joy and strength. So let us enter deeply into the world of gratitude. Let us walk together on this journey of thanksgiving. Let us experience our sovereign God, to whom we give thanks forever. And let us learn gratitude and the language of thanksgiving as we journey on.

Part One

A Source of Grace

2

The Grace of Endurance

One of God’s graces is the grace of endurance. There is a close relationship between endurance and gratitude, for the strength to endure suffering comes from gratitude.

Job received the grace of endurance. He endured as much hardship as a person could ever experience, losing his children, his wealth and his health, suffering criticism and blame from those closest to him. And God’s silence in the midst of suffering multiplied his pain. But Job endured. ­Although God remained silent, we know that he was with Job and Job endured faithfully.

We often face hardships we can’t endure on our own and need patience to abide. Like passing through a long tunnel, we have no choice but to be patient until we reach the end.

The length of endurance defines the length of the usage. A tree that endures the seasons will be useful. As a master carpenter, Tsunekazu Nishioka knows this to be true. His family has taken care of Hōryū-ji, a Buddhist temple and one of the world’s oldest wooden structures, for over 1,400 years. Nishioka asserts that “in order to build a structure that will last for one thousand years, one must use the timbers that have endured for longer than one thousand years.” The length of endurance defines the length of usage.

In order to endure well, we need the power of acceptance. No one enjoys suffering. However, if the suffering is somehow embraced, then it can become a precious treasure. We can learn about the importance of endurance from the oyster. An intruder slips into the shell and irritates it. The shell embraces the intruder and produces nacre, a strong, resilient material, to coat it layer by layer, resulting in a pearl. Thus, the oyster’s endurance produces a pearl.

It is gratitude that can transform our sufferings into blessings. Sufferings invite pain, but if we befriend the sufferings and consider them learning opportunities, they lose their power in our lives and can result in a thing of beauty.

When we give thanks, we become more able to accept our circumstances, even our suffering and pain. So joy or even miracles can come to us through acceptance. Many miracles in the Bible happened to those who embraced their problems and brought them to God. To deny our suffering is to miss the experience of God’s miracles in our lives.

Jesus embraced difficulties, sympathizing with those who brought their problems to him. He had compassion on hurting people, often confronting their obstacles as opportunities. And Jesus prayed the prayer of thanksgiving in the midst of difficulties. This kind of gratitude allows us to embrace our problems and make room for God’s miracles.

The strength of endurance defines the depth of beauty. When ceramics have endured the burning furnace, they come out beautiful. And the higher the furnace temperature, the more beautiful the vessels become. But only those vessels that have gone through the fire maintain their beautiful color and shape over the course of time.

Endurance is closely linked to usefulness, for the biblical figures used by God’s hand endured hardships. They endured in the pit, the prison, the wilderness, the cave, the fiery furnace and the lion’s den. But they were people of gratitude who received and enjoyed God’s grace to endure and to be used by him.

When we are facing hardships and the inevitable sufferings of life, we can be grateful for our situation and endure with faith, trusting that there will be a time to be used by God in a mighty way. Enduring with perseverance allows us to enjoy God’s grace, and endurance will enable us to serve his kingdom better.

3

The Grace of Descending

True gratitude is being grateful for everything. Being thankful for a wonderful situation is easy. But true gratitude is being thankful for the situation we can’t be thankful for by our own strength. That kind of gratitude can be found only by one who knows the paradox of grace.

One paradox of grace is gratitude for “descending.” We honor and applaud those who ascend—those who have earned achievement or success. On the other hand, we often pity, avoid or even scorn those who descend.

Those who have reached the pinnacle of success have ascended to the summit, and the summit can be a precious place. Some things can only be seen from that vantage point. There is much to learn from those who have reached the heights, and they can serve as excellent guides to lead others. But the summit can also be a dangerous place of exposure and vulnerability. It is not a good place for a long stay, and everyone who has ascended must eventually descend. But this can be a painful and terribly lonely experience, even more dangerous than the ascent.

Timing is key to a proper descent. When Peter Hillary, the son of world-famous mountain climber Sir Edmund Hillary, conquered Mount Everest in 2002, he called his father from atop the mountain. His father’s advice was to “be more careful when you come down from that mountain. It is much harder to come down from the mountain than climbing up the mountain.” One can get lost or fall, even die, on the down side of the mountain if the proper timing is missed. But only those who have reached the summit know how it feels to descend.

We need God’s grace in order to conquer the summit. But coming down requires just as much of God’s grace. Think of an airplane. If the airplane descends carefully and safely, we call it “landing.” However, if the airplane loses control during the descent, as the result of turbulence or other outside forces, we call it “crashing.” Likewise, if a person who has reached the leadership summit descends willingly, it is considered to be beautiful. On the other hand, if a leader is forcibly removed from the summit, it can be a humiliating downfall. We need God’s special grace in order to make a beautiful descent.

Leaders who descend beautifully, in God’s perfect timing, can experience his amazing grace like never before. There may be new opportunities for them as a result of descending well at the proper time, having even greater impact in a new endeavor. When we descend, we are offered a different view. “The Flower of the Moment,” a poem by Nobel Prize–nominated poet Ko Un, describes this concept:

On the way down, I saw the flower I hadn’t seen on the way up.

Let us be thankful on the way down, for God’s hidden grace is at the bottom, and it is there that we understand hardship.

There’s unexplainable depth at the bottom that simply can’t be felt at the top, which is why those used by God’s hand all experience severe hardships. And if we allow the rock-bottom experience to refine and redefine us, we can protect ourselves from falling from the top. Jesus’ cross is that low place, but that cross reaches to heaven. This is why I daily draw near to the low place of the cross.

4

The Grace of Isolation

Gratitude is mysterious and marvelous. The mystery of gratitude is that some people can give thanks in impossible circumstances—thanksgiving in the midst of isolation.

Isolation is the state of being locked in. Joseph was pushed into a cistern by his own brothers, which led to eleven years of isolation in Potiphar’s house, followed by another two years in jail. Joseph was completely isolated from the outside world for many years. But God graciously transformed Joseph’s isolated days into blessed days. God’s favor meant that those years were not wasted. Instead, Joseph dreamed dreams and prepared for his future, gaining the necessary knowledge to become a political leader.

When God prepares someone for leadership, he often allows that person to experience isolation. Isolation is lonely and sad, leaving us feeling abandoned and misunderstood. Surrounded by enemies and opposition, it can be a painful time of brokenness, betrayal and destruction. Worse yet, we often feel forgotten.

Moses experienced isolation for forty years in the wilderness. David was also isolated in the wilderness, in the cave of Abdullam and in Palestine, confessing in the Psalms that he was in “the miry pit.” The prophet Jeremiah was confined and imprisoned many times, even left to die in a cistern of mud. The apostle Paul spent three years of isolation in the desert area in Arabia, and a long time imprisoned in Rome during the peak of his life. These were painful seasons, but God didn’t waste this pain. Those days became precious because of gratitude. Paul’s prison epistles are filled with gratitude, crying out, “Rejoice always . . . give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:16, 18). Gratitude has a mysterious power, enabling us to be content no matter where we are and to recognize God’s sovereignty and will.

The secret to the victorious life lies in finding contentment where we are. Mother Teresa said, “love the place where you stay even more.” Joseph was content wherever he was. He served there, and he learned there, and prepared for his future there. It’s not that Joseph didn’t experience suffering, but he knew contentment because of his trust in the Lord, who was with him.

When we experience gratitude during a period of isolation, the time of isolation can become a time of blessing. During the winter season, trees stop all activities on the surface. Though barren, the winter tree maintains its roots. It saves energy to blossom when the spring comes. It is the same with God’s people. We need, sometimes, to stop external activities and go through an isolated time. Only then can we look after our interior world, to reflect and grow deeper.

Many people experience deep growth during their time of isolation. John Bunyan wrote ThePilgrim’s Progress in prison. Nelson Mandela created great unity and lived a wonderful life in a terrible prison for twenty-seven years. When Hudson Taylor became sick and lived for five years like a hermit, he started the China Inland Mission.

We can be grateful for the grace of God-given isolation, forgiving and blessing those who isolated us. In God’s perfect time, he will rescue us from the unexplainable cistern. But even when it is difficult, let us love the places where we are planted. Let us serve where we are and love those we meet. Although people may forget us, God never forgets us.

5

The Grace of Humility

To be grateful is to discover, so we need to open our eyes to find something for which we can be grateful. Even the ability to be grateful has nothing to do with our own effort; it is the result of God’s grace. When our eyes are open, we become thankful for things we might not otherwise appreciate and for things we previously took for granted.

When we experience God’s grace, our perspective is changed, and we are able to recognize the good in the ordinary. We see the good side of the people we meet, and the light in the midst of darkness. We learn to appreciate any kind of person and any circumstance, often being impressed and touched by nearly everything around us. When that happens, we notice God’s love in every situation. We become grateful for everything we enjoy, seeing how undeserving we are.

But this kind of gratitude can only be found in the humble heart. God wants us to become humble because he wants to bestow his grace on us from the lowly place. It is there that we kneel down and even fall on our faces before him in our times of suffering. But it is also there that we experience his amazing grace, for his greatest grace is found at the lowest place.

When we notice people of authority who serve others humbly, our hearts are touched. We learn from them that our rank or position is not what matters, but our attitude. We know that there is nothing we can take with us when we leave this earth, and what makes us long for eternity has nothing to do with our station in life. There is a deeper joy that resides within our hearts. What is precious is invisible and untouchable, and it is often met in the low places.

Jesus came to a low place. Jesus, exalted as the highest King, was the utmost example of humility. Humility brings peace, for when we reach the low place, we needn’t worry about falling down anymore. Those in high places are anxious to protect their position, but those in low places have nothing to protect and no need to battle for supremacy. God’s shalom, the best grace that his people pursue, is found in the low places.