Title Thank you
Contents
Psalm 100:1-5; 1 Thessalonians 5:15-22
Chuseok Hangawi is a Korean Thanksgiving Day. It is the season of modest living, generous hearts, and overflowing gratitude. A bright moon rises on Chuseok Mid-Autumn Festival. The full round moon illuminates the sky and the earth, and when you stand in a field where the five grains are ripe and plentiful, your heart will be full. Just as the bright, large and round moon illuminates the dark sky and earth, it illuminates our lives and our hearts. In the spring and summer, the fields are full of grains cultivated by sweat and sweet and delicious fruits are produced on each tree.
I've heard that the word "thank you" means "You are God", but I haven't heard why. The word "thank you" comes from 'bear (sword)-before', and it is a Korean word meaning a bear or a black god. also see The word 'king' also means 'nim sword' or 'one with a god on his head'. Seeing this, we feel that our people are inherently religious and spiritual. Even if the etymological meaning of the word 'thank you' is not 'before God', how wonderful it would be if you had the heart to confess, 'I am before God' every time you say thank you!
When you stand before God, you stand in an extreme position with nowhere to go. There is nowhere to go higher and nowhere to go forward. If you stand before God, your resentment and regret will disappear, and you will feel grateful and grateful. No more greed, no more arguing. Teacher Yoo Young-mo interprets the words 'thank you' as 'thank you' and 'let's not say thank you anymore'. When serving rice, the place where you say "Thank you. Now it's done" is the place to say thank you. I've been treated well enough, so it's over. The state of being full and overflowing is the state of gratitude, when the desire for someone to do something for me and to get something more disappears.
Psalm 100 speaks well of overflowing with joy and gratitude when we come before God. They are told to come before God, shouting with joy and gratitude. When you first stand before God, you are afraid and trembling. Confess one's sins, and grievously repent of their mistakes and transgressions. I think that I am an indescribable sinner, I am nothing but an empty shell, an empty can. But it never ends in despair and resignation before God. After a painful and dark time of penance, it is filled with the grace of forgiveness and love, ending with tears of joy and gratitude, laughter and cheers. Everyone always feels grace and gratitude before God.
We realize that the age we live in is an age in which we have lost gratitude, an age in which we have lost grace, and an age in which we have lost God. This is an age where money dominates, obsessed with momentary emotions and pleasures, an age of endless competition, and an age of endless greed. In this age, we cannot feel grace and cannot know God. I get nervous, I get angry easily, and I break up easily. The reason the divorce rate is soaring is because they don't feel the gratitude of life. Gratitude comes from the depths of life. I am grateful when I feel the grace of God. Even though I am a sinner and empty being, I feel grateful when I feel God outside of me and my body and mind are filled with God’s power and grace. If I am full of my greed and insistence, I do not know gratitude, I do not know grace, and I do not know God.
Saying “thank you” is a confession of faith, saying, “I am standing before God.” Whether you meet people or see the natural world, you can say thank you only when you have the realization that “I am before God”. In a true sense, we can only say thank you in front of God. I can only know and feel gratitude when my greed and claims are cut off. In a true sense, we can know that there is only 'yes' in the presence of God, not 'I'. German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that only when we meet God can we see 'I' as 'I' and 'you' as 'you'. It is only in the presence of God that my greed, claims, and thoughts are cut off and I can see and treat others as others. A person sees other people, natural things, work, or things as their own possessions or interests, or sees them only within the framework of their own thoughts. I see myself only as a part of me. 'You' cannot be seen as 'you'. Seeing them as enemies or only a part of my existence, I cannot feel gratitude. I am grateful only when I feel the existence outside of me who loves me and gives me strength.
It seems like we are living with our own strength, but we live by the power of God. We live by the power of the natural life world. We live with the strength of our neighbors and the help of society. It goes without saying that cultural and social life have been affected by the efforts and efforts of many people. Eating, clothing, and sleeping all depend on someone else's power to live. Even a bowl of rice is made of the harmony and work of sunlight, water, wind and soil, and the sweat of the farmer and the hard work of the cook. Every time you eat a bowl of rice, you should eat it with a grateful and grateful heart.
But if you want to eat, wear, and sleep well, you have to work hard with your head and your body. What is more fundamental than living is life, life. The basis of life is breath. If you stop breathing, you die. Breathing seems to be done alone without the help of others, but breathing is something that cannot be done without air. Breath is a breath of grace. Anyone who has tried to breathe deeply and comfortably knows that. Those who practice body and mind strive to breathe better. The harder you try to breathe well, the harder it is to breathe. Rest with hidden grace. When you open your body and mind and let it go, you can breathe deeply and comfortably. When you feel grateful, you breathe well and feel grateful for every breath you take. When you breathe well, your body and mind become strong. It is said that when God created man, he breathed the breath of God into his nostrils. If you breathe well, you can get the full life energy of God in your breath.
Life is lived by strength, living by grace. You have to live a life of being grateful and showing gratitude. Only then will life be beautiful, powerful, and radiant. But many people live with anger. It seems that Koreans are particularly upset that there is a vase called only in Korea. Han (恨) has suffered a lot of hardship and suffered a lot of injustice, so his anger will be deep and much. Not only Koreans, but all humans live with anger. Living full of anger is a characteristic of a sinner who lives apart from God. Cain was angry that God did not accept his offering and only accepted Abel's offering, so he killed his brother Abel. Lamech, a descendant of Cain, declares, "I killed the man who hurt me...If Cain was punished seven times, then Lamech was punished seventy-seven times" (Genesis 4:23-24). Human history is a history of falling into a vicious cycle of retaliation following the view of life of Cain and Lamech. If you touch 'me', you get a club, and if you hurt me, you kill me, the retaliation deepens and grows. So the world gets darker and more chaotic.
The New Testament shows the way to break the vicious cycle of retaliation and open a nation that helps and saves each other. The cross is the place where the vicious cycle of revenge is broken and the kingdom of God where we help and save each other is opened. Although the United States is a Christian country, it is a country full of greed and anger. If someone touches it, it comes out with a stick. A world of peace does not come through retaliation and punishment.
So is home life. If you develop feelings and behaviors that are sad for each other, the family will be broken. If my wife or husband makes me sad, and if I develop sad feelings and thoughts, I will not be able to live together. 1 Thessalonians 5:15 teaches, "Let no one repay evil for evil, but always strive to do good to one another and to all." This is the way to peace, the way to eternal life, and the way to live even if we die. I have no experience of dying, and I have no realization to say that I knew all about death. But there is a belief that in Christ, if we do not repay evil for evil, but strive to do good to one another, we will live even after death and live forever.
If we nurture bad thoughts, bad emotions, and bad behaviors with each other, the family will fall apart. Cultivating good thoughts, good feelings, and good actions deepens love and makes relationships beautiful. In order to live this way, "you must always rejoice, pray constantly, and give thanks for everything." Joy, prayer, and gratitude are the essence of life. Life can be hurtful, but it is inherently joyous. I am happy when it sprouts, and I am happy when it blooms and bears fruit. Seeing a young life brings joy to life. I am happy to be close to Jesus, the source of life. It's nice to see life grow. I am happy when I grow and grow in me. I'm happy if only I could feel my life. I am angry and tired of living because I cannot feel the life of my body and mind. As my life breathes to live, so my soul prays to live. Prayer is the breath of the soul. In order for the soul to live, it must breathe the breath of God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and life. My soul must be open to God. That is prayer. If you are always happy and powerfully breathing the Spirit, you are always grateful.
The Bible tells us to give thanks for everything. It's not about being grateful sometimes and not thankful, it's about being grateful for everything and everything. Those who live in Jesus have a duty to give thanks. A life of constant gratitude is what God wants us to do in Jesus Christ.
The one who is always grateful is the winner. A person who knows no defeat Life is rewarding. Even if you die, you live Who can beat a man who, in the eyes of others, is failing in life and dying to say, "Thank God. Thank you to everyone around me." Such a person cannot overcome even the devil and the powers of hell cannot use any power. Such a person is already living in heaven and living beyond death forever. A person with a grateful heart is a person who overcomes in life, a person who finds reward, and a person who is generous. Gratitude is the foundation of living together.
To live with a grateful heart in all things, you must be moved by the Holy Spirit.
We must keep our hearts open so that the fire of the Holy Spirit does not go out.