Pensées
A 40-Day Devotional for Pastors
Editor’s Note: Journey is pleased to announce our new resource, “Pensées: A 40-Day Devotional for Pastors,” will be released this month, January 2022.
Every day at Journey we post a devotion for our member-ministers, an inspiring “pensée” to begin their day. Written by a pastor-of-pastors, it’s an encouraging or even challenging thought on which shepherds can meditate as they go about their lives and ministries
This month’s Journey blog post is a randomly selected entry from “Pensées: A 40-Day Devotional for Pastors.”
GRACE & GRATITUDE
“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Colossians 3.15-17
PENSÉE: GRACE
Three times in three sentences, the Apostle Paul invites the people of God to live a full life of grace. His prescription for knowing and living in God’s grace is gratitude, a thankful heart:
v.15: “And be thankful;”
v.16: “With thankfulness in your hearts to God;”
v.17: “Whatever you do… giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
A thankful heart is essential in pastoral ministry. It pumps the blood of God’s grace through our system. Without a heart of gratitude, we can’t survive the long journey of shepherding the sheep of God’s pasture. But with a heart of gratitude, we thrive.
I know my pastoral heart is weak when the pulse of my personal gratitude is faint. The absence of verbal thanks to God and others is a heart stress test, telling me there is a problem that must be addressed. I can address it through the drugs of diversions (TV, sports, hobbies, etc.), or I can give my heart what it needs: gratitude. Expressing gratitude from my heart to God and others releases grace in my being, and with it, health to my soul.
Yes, some churches make it more challenging to have a thankful heart. But if a church has more influence than the God of grace on my attitude of gratitude, maybe it’s time for some heart surgery. Our God and His grace are greater than any circumstance. Or church.
Do yourself a favor and ask friends to assist you in performing a stress test on your heart: ask them about your language. Is it filled with complaint or thanksgiving, criticism or praise? Yes, lament is a part of godly, holy pastoral language, but only as it is sandwiched between the bread of thanks. Try it, praise-wrapped lament not only tastes better than bare complaints, but it satisfies our hunger for meaning and supplies great strength to continue on. It sets our heartache and heart in the hands of our Lord.
Why merely survive on a diet of complaints or a life empty of thanks? Be a scout for grace! Look for God’s grace everywhere every day. And every time you see it, respond to God from a grateful heart, “Thank you, my Father.”
“Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world.”
John Milton
NOTE: “A 40-Day Devotional for Pastors” is available in print and ebook versions. Order here on the Journey website, at your favorite online seller (Amazon, Apple, Books-a-Million, Barnes & Noble, and others), or by emailing us at journeypastoralcoaching@gmail.com.
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