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Do My Remembrance Lead to Thanksgiving?

I thank my God every time I remember you.
Philippians 1:3

William L Stidger was the most famous preacher in America in the 1930s. Once he was sitting with a fellow minister in a restaurant talking about the worldwide depression, the suffering people, rich committing suicide and the jobless. His friend commented, "In two or three weeks I have to preach on Thanksgiving Day. What can I say?"

Stidger said it was like the Spirit of God answered that question: "Why not thank those people who've been a blessing in your life and affirm them during this terrible time?" He thought of an English teacher who had instilled in him a love of literature, affecting all his writing and preaching. So he wrote to her.

In a matter of days he got a reply in the feeble scrawl of the aged. "My dear Willy: I can't tell you how much your note meant to me. I am in my eighties, living alone in a small room, cooking my own meals, lonely, and like the last leaf of autumn lingering behind. You'll be interested to know that I taught in school for more than 50 yeats, and yours is the first note of appreciation I ever received. It came on a blue, cold morning, and it cheered me as nothing has done in many years."

St. Augustine has said, "If he could choose a fourth Christian virtue after faith, hope and love, he would choose thankfulness." Gratitude is a mark of a true Christian.

There are many examples of Paul expressing his thanks to God. And a number of times, he expressed his thanks to God for the Christians to whom he wrote. Similar is the case in the verse we meditate today.

The great commentator Matthew Henry says the following about this verse.
Paul remembered them: he bore them much in his thoughts; and though they were out of sight, and he was at a distance from them, yet they were not out of his mind... As he often thought of them, so he often spoke of them, and delighted to hear them spoken of. The very mention of them brought gratitude to his heart.

Paul says, "I thank my God every time I remember you." In other words, Paul is saying that when he recalls the love of the Philippians, when he recalls the support of the Philippians, when he remembers the Philippians, it leads him to thanksgiving to God. Every time he thinks of them, he thanks God for them. The Apostle Paul had a special relationship with this congregation. He seems to be on the same wavelength with this congregation, and so his fellowship with them is especially sweet. When he thinks about them, when he thinks about the work of the gospel in them, about their participation with him in the gospel elsewhere, it leads him immediately to thanksgiving to God. For Paul, blessings received from God lead to thanksgiving to God.

Everyone's life is surrounded by such people. And we need to be thankful to God for the people he places in our lives. After our tenure in Ludhiana we had a bad phase but it was possible to pass through the phase with the help of few people. Two clergy families who have helped us survive our bad days were Eapen Achen (now serving in Mulund) and Moni Achen (now serving in Pandalam). Their words of support helped is as a family in our days of struggle. Three families who stood with us constantly in our turmoil and struggle to move forward expecting nothing from us were Saju Bhaiya and family from Ludhiana and Achenkunju uncle and Nithin's family from Jalandhar.

Paul too had a bad time and a bad phase. But the people of Philippi were always out there to help him whether it be financial support of support for the ministry or when he was personally down. And so every time he remembers the people in Philippi he has only one word to say, 'Thank you Lord. '

Dear Friends, this day can we for a moment look back and remember all those who have been with us in our days of trouble.

Can we too like Paul come before the Lord with a thankful heart for the wonderful people he has blessed us with. When we look back there have been so many who have helped us become who we are today.

How wonderful it would be to say, Thank you God, every time we remember the people who have helped is in or journey and growth.

May God help us to do the same.
God Bless You
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Comments

  1. Unknown18 October 2019 at 20:23

    Thank you very much dear Acha for the inspiring and great message. God bless you all the more.

    ReplyDelete

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