Thank God for the Christians in Your Life

There are blindpeople all around us – people who are blind to the reality of God. Though thereis evidence of God all around them, they don’t pay attention to him. Paul says theydon’t “glorify” him and are not “thankful” (Rom 1:21).

If you followChrist as Savior and God, you should do what you can to reverse this process. How?By learning the outward habit and the inner heart attitude of giving thanks toGod. Giving God thanks glorifies him. It reminds people about him. It magnifieshim and makes a big deal about him. That’s what this world needs to see God.

When you givethanks to God, you uncover his greatness and goodness.

• Youuncover him to yourself and others by thanking and blessing him for your food.
• Youcan also do this by thanking him for the Christian people in your life.

Let's talk about a common relationship problem we naturally experience.

It happens in our relationships with other Christians, especially in our church and in our families. When it happens, we lose sight of God.

Here’s how ithappened for me. At the start of each school year, my roommates and I moved intothe dormitories. Each year, we had different roommates and we’d get along atfirst. It was a Christian college, so we expected each other to be good,uplifting people.

We’d talktogether, pray together, study together, and even carpool together, knowingvery little about each other at first. But as weeks and months went by, ourattitudes towards one another would change as we came to know each other moreclosely.

Carpooling forinstance was a fascinating case study. In my first two years of college, I didn’tdrive. I rode to class and activities with roommates instead.

• One of them, named Josh (who’s a faithful pastor in Colorado today), drove an old, worn-out Buick LeSabre. When he turned on the heat in the winter, it would blow snow into the cabin! The greater problem, though, was that he drove to school at the last minute. We always arrived either right at the bell or a few minutes late.
• The other roommate, named Ben (who’s an accounting manager in Oklahoma today), drove a very nice Jeep, which he kept in immaculate condition. Though he was the more reliable ride, my problem was that he drove to school very early. He always arrive at the earliest possible moment, often leaving before I was ready to go.

This carpoolingdilemma frustrated me, and I assume that I was a bit of a frustration to themas well. So in my junior year, I drove my own car, a clean Ford Escort stationwagon.

Well guesswhat, I had some roommates who needed a ride to school, so I obliged. But howdo you think I felt when – among other moments – a roommate named Bobby (who’sa God-loving preacher in Wisconsin today) decided to brush his teeth and shavein the backseat of my car on a harsh and messy winter morning?

Then, ofcourse, there’s the time that I backed my car into a brand-new Jaguar, which happenedto be rented by Bobby’s parents – talk about a crazy turn of events!

The more wespend time together as Christians – whether in our families or as a church –the more we get to know each other become aware of our weaknesses, idiosyncrasies,and failures. As a result, we move from optimism to pessimism, enthusiasm tofrustration.

You can visualize this process on a timeline that looks like this: introduction > enthusiasm > toleration > frustration > exasperation > rejection.

Where are youat on this relationship timeline with other Christians in your church? Or athome with your spouse, your children, or your parents?

Another way ofevaluating yourself is to think about various Christians in your life and askthe question, “How do I view him (or her)? Do I deeply appreciate him, or do Ionly accept him?” “Do I thank God for her, or do I just tolerate her instead?”

Why does thishappen? In part because the Christians we know make foolish choices. We expectthem to be like Jesus, but they don’t always do a very good job. We stop seeingthe positive things and the glimmers of hope that encourage us and we focus onthe weaknesses and failures instead, which seem to grow larger in our view.

Even Paul faced this relationship dilemma with other Christians.

Did you know that most of his letters were written to correct some problems of Christian people and churches he knew? He would either start a church or spend time helping one grow. Sometime later, after he went away, these churches would develop problems, so he wrote some letters to help fix their problems.

• Sometimesthese problems were theological. People in the church were confused about whatGod taught and what they should believe.
• Sometimesthese problems were relational. People in the church were struggling to getalong with each other for one reason or another.
• Sometimesthese problems were moral. People in the church were doing bad things thatresembled their behavior before they believed on Christ.

How did Paulthink and feel about these believers when their problems surfaced? To answerthis question, notice what he said to them in many of his letters.

• “Ithank my God through Jesus Christ for you all …” (Rom 1:8)
• “AfterI heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I donot cease to give thanks for you …” (Eph 1:15-16)
• “Ithank my God upon every remembrance of you.” (Phil 1:3)
• “Wegive thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ … for you” (Col 1:3)
• “Wegive thanks to God always for you all …” (1 Thess 1:2)
• “Ithank my God always concerning you …” (1 Cor 1:4)

Of all these examples,I’m most surprised to hear that he was thankful for the Christian people atCorinth because this church had a lot of seriously frustrating problems. He hadstarted this church himself, investing one-and-a-half years of his life withthem at great expense. Yet five years later, here’s what was going on there:

• Divisionsover their favorite preachers (1 Cor 1:10-12)
• Jealousytowards one another (1 Cor 3:3)
• Ongoingarguments between each other (1 Cor 3:3)
• Sexualimmorality: incest (1 Cor 5:1) and prostitution (1 Cor 6:16-18)
• Lawsuitsagainst each other (1 Cor 6:5-7)
• Toleratingor participating with idolatry (1 Cor 10:14)
• Divisionsover economic status (1 Cor 11:21)
• Acareless approach to the Lord’s Table (1 Cor 11:30)
• Competitionover spiritual gifts, roles, and abilities (1 Cor 12-14)
• Chaoticand confusing worship services (1 Cor 14:40)
• Avariety of ongoing practical conflicts and doctrinal questions

If you were Paul and you were about to write a letter to the Christians in this church, how would you begin?

Would you say, “I thank my God always concerning you?” Or would you be frustrated, trying to decide if you should give them a few “choice words” to “put them in their place.” Perhaps you’d be wondering if you should even write to them at all.

Here’s theproblem. When you focus on the problems of fellow Christians, you lose sight ofGod and they do, too. Here are two ways we cover up God in Christian relationships.

At the mostbasic level, we ignore the ways they naturally reflect God’s glory.

God made peopleto reflect his greatness and goodness – not to be him, but to be likehim (Gen 1:26-28). More than anything else, God made us to reflect what he islike.

Though we’re brokenby sin and fail to do this very well, we all still do this to some degree.

Think of aChristian who bothers you somehow. How do they annoy you? A bad mannerism orattitude? Something they’ve said or done, or a way they’ve let you down?

Now set thataside to ask another question. How do they remind you of God – his love, kindness,creativity, justice, or some other quality? Look carefully. It’s theresomewhere.

Perhaps youhaven’t thought about them this way before, or for a very long time. Yet it’sgood to do this. Now set aside your frustrations with that person and thank Godfor them on that basis rather than fixating on their problems. Not only willthis change your view of that person, but it will uncover the greatness and goodnessof God through them.

How manystatues and paintings fill art museums around the world, worth thousands andmillions of dollars? But they’re cracked and badly damaged.

You don’t lookat a cracked Roman statue and say, “That’s so ugly. It’s so cracked up.”Instead, you say, “Wow, I can’t believe it’s still here. Look how realistic itwas. I can only imagine how amazing it was when he first carved it and thepaint was still there!”

We need to view each other the same way. Rather than focus on our cracked noses and missing eyeballs, we need to focus on the ways that we each show glimmers of the goodness and greatness of God.

Rather than focus on our cracked noses and missing eyeballs, we need to focus on the ways that we each show glimmers of the goodness and greatness of God.

Not only do we ignore the ways believers in our lives naturally reflect God’s glory.

We also ignore the ways that God is supernaturally at work in their lives.

This is whatmakes Christians so amazing. Not themselves. but the grace of God is at work intheir lives, thanks to the Spirit of God who is living in them. They might notbe as good as they could be, but they are not as bad as they usedto be!

In fact, that’swhat Paul highlighted when he gave thanks for the Christians in Corinth. Hesaid, “I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which wasgiven to you…” (1 Cor 1:4).

It shows thatyou’re becoming like Jesus and learning what grace is all about when you canlook at Christians who are making bad choices or are frustrating you somehowand say, “You know what, I’m not annoyed. In fact, I’m really thankful to Godfor you because I can see how his grace is working in your life.”

When you dothis, guess what? You uncover the greatness and goodness of God!

Think about thebelievers in your life who bother you. Can you see how they’re changing? Canyou find ways that Christ is becoming more and more evident in their lives? Canyou see the grace of God in them?

How can we give thanks to God for the Christians in our lives?

Pray it. Say it.

Pray it. Tell God you’re thankful. Mention people by name when you pray. If you can’t say thank you to God for the Christians in your life, then you can’t say thank you to them and mean it.

If you can’t say thank you to God for the Christians in your life, then you can’t say thank you to them and mean it.

To make mattersworse, you can’t even be thankful for Christ, because you don’t seem toappreciate the way that God has made them and the way that Christ is revealinghimself through their spiritual transformation – even if it’s slow and hard tosee sometimes.

Learn to thankGod always, just like Paul did, for the people in your life. Don’t take themfor granted. There’s something about each one of them that is so very, veryspecial in the way that God has made them, and you don’t want to miss it. Tomiss it is to miss out on witnessing the greatness and goodness of God.

Say it. Tell them that you thank God for them, don’t just tell God.

Paul did this, didn’t he? Not just to the Christians at Corinth, but the Christians in many other places. If you read all his NT letters, you’ll find that he expressed his appreciation to numerous individual believers by name as well. (Check out the last chapter of Romans.)

When you dothis, it’s a way of thanking God, but it encourages the person as well. Itreminds them of their special place in your life. It reminds them of God’spurpose for their life. It reminds them of the greatness and goodness of Godthat is at work in their life.

Saying thank you to other believers uncovers God to them as well as to you. Now isn’t that amazing? Learning to see Jesus in the Christians God has placed into our lives.

Fred Rogers (whom we know as Mr. Rogers) said something that helps us understand the importance of giving thanks for the Christians in our lives:

I believe that appreciation is a holy thing, that when we look for what's best in the person we happen to be with at the moment, we're doing what God does; so in appreciating our neighbor, we're participating in something truly sacred.

Mr. Rogers

Will you dothat? Will you pray your thanks to God and say your thanks to the Christians he’splaced in your life, no matter how many struggles they have? If you do, you’lluncover the greatness and goodness of God just a little bit more.