I Abandon Myself into Your Hands

Charles de Foucauld's Prayer of Abandonment:

Father, I abandon myself into your hands,

do with me what you will.

Whatever you may do, I thank you;

I am ready for all, I accept all.

Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures.

I wish no more than this, O Lord.

Into your hands I commend my soul;

I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,

for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself,

to surrender myself into your hands without reserve,

and with boundless confidence, for you are my Father.

Love is thankfulness for the existence of the beloved

"Love is gratitude: it is thankfulness for the existence of the beloved; it is the happy acceptance of everything that he gives without jealous feeling that the self ought to be able to do as much; it is a gratitude that does not seek equality; it is wonder over the other's gift of himself in companionship. Love is reverence; it keeps its distance even as it draws near; it does not seek to absorb the other; it desires the beloved to be what he is and does not seek to refashion him into a replica of the self or to make him a means to the self's advancement. As reverence love is and seeks knowledge of the other not by way of curiosity nor for the sake of gaining power, but in rejoicing and wonder. Love is loyalty it is the willingness to let the self be destroyed rather than the other cease to be."  H. Richard Niebuhr

How David Expressed His Thanksgiving (2 Samuel 9:1-13)

"I will surely show you kindness" (2 Sam 9:7).

Being thankful is so darn hard. Why? It's so much easier to be angry and upset with others!

2 things that seem to deeply upset and anger us is when we think or feel that we were unappreciated or disrespected. We just can't get over feeling dissed or disregarded, regardless of whether or not others intended to do so. This bothers us so deeply and profoundly, because we so naturally default to self-centeredness and self-righteousness, which are common expressions of selfishness.

Being Thankful is a Response, not a Command (Luke 17:1-19)

Thursday, Nov 24, is Thanksgiving Day. But being thankful is so darn hard. One painful reason is that we expect rewards and commendation for our good works. So instead of being thankful, we expect reward for "good Christian behavior."

Truth be told, there is always SOMEONE we are upset with, or angry about, or hurt by, or disappointed with. What are the reasons? They disrespected me. They disregarded me. They gossiped about me. They slandered me. They lied about me. They did not support me. They cared only about themselves. They don't love me. They caricatured me. The reason could even be, "They are not thankful." It is almost comical to say or feel, "I am so unhappy and unthankful because that guy is so unthankful!"

According to the Bible, how can we be thankful?
Luke 17:1-19 seem to be isolated disconnected teachings of:

• Jesus teaching his disciples about sin (1-4), faith (5-6), and duty (7-10).
• Jesus' healing of 10 men with leprosy (11-19).
  

How are these seemingly separate teachings related? How do they connect together?

Thanksgiving Is Knowing That My Good Works Do Not Count (Luke 17:7-10)

"We are unworthy servants..." (Luke 17:10)


What is your posture before God? As Christians, do we have the posture of a trembling, undeserving, unworthy sinner before God, no matter how hard we have faithfully worked, served and sacrificed for our church and for others?



This is a very, very painful and bitter thought: God can never ever credit any of my good works to me.


Why is my good works not being credited to me so painful and bitter? Even if we mentally acknowledge that this is true (Eph 2:8-9), we often do not feel or act accordingly. We all get upset if we think that others do not appreciate our efforts or our faithfulness. Why is this biblical truth so hard to swallow? It is because all of life suggests otherwise: If we study hard we get good grades. If we do what our boss/leader expects, he is pleased. But it doesn't work like this with God. Why not?