I recently read someone describe harvest as “a time to work hard followed by a season of feasting, celebrating and gratitude.” I am coming to understand the importance and necessity of gratitude. I think we are well aware of the need to be thankful, but I am coming to believe that there is a need for our lives to be overflowing with gratitude for the goodness, mercy and love of God.
In Luke 17 we are told a story of Jesus healing 10 lepers and one of them returning to give thanks. The man that returned didn’t simply come back and shake Jesus’ hand and thank Him, he fell at Jesus’ feet, he shouted, cried and in the midst of his gratitude caused a great commotion. God is the giver of life and so everyone ever born owes God a debt of gratitude and yet so few of us truly give thanks. Those of us that have trusted Jesus for our salvation have had our sins covered, the wrath of God turned back, eternal life granted and have been given the Promise of the Father via the infilling of the Holy Spirit and while we give thanks with our voices, I am unsure that our lives are defined by gratitude. The one healed man that returned to Jesus changed his course, he interrupted his life, he stopped everything because he understood that he was whole because of Jesus and so gratitude became the definition of his life, there was nothing he could do with himself until he had found the One that made him whole. I believe that this kind of gratitude is supposed to be the driving force of our lives. There needs to be a changing of course, an interruption of life and a stopping of everything else simply because God has loved us so greatly that constant gratitude must now become the reality of my life.
The man who returned caused quite a stir, quite the commotion. His gratitude overflowed in such a way that, while it was directed toward Jesus, it was obvious to all of those around him. Our gratitude should be the same, always directed toward Jesus, but obvious to all of those around us. In John 3, John the Baptist famously declared of he and Jesus, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” That statement in and of itself is powerful and true, but that statement is actually the conclusion of John’s statement. He explains that Jesus is the Bridegroom and the people are the Bride and then John reveals himself as “the friend of the Bridegroom.” John then says “the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice.” And then, John says, “Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled.” John’s declaration of decrease was the overflow of gratitude. His joy was fulfilled and so it was time for Jesus to increase and for him to decrease, this was not some wise or pious statement, it was a joyful declaration. Our vows, commitments and steps of faith are not to be to show how committed we are, they are to be outpourings of gratitude for who Jesus is and all that He has done. Commitments of our strength start with a bang but often end quietly. Commitments that are the overflow of gratitude endure, overcome and even cause a bit of a commotion for those around us.
I have heard it said that harvest can be messy, that might be true, but I believe that harvest should also be noisy. It should be filled with shouts of joy, cries of thanksgiving and songs of adoration. Harvest is not about our effort it is focused on God’s incredible love and awesome power. The reality is that there was never more of a commotion on earth than when Jesus walked here as a man, there will never be more commotion than when Jesus returns to establish His kingdom, as we pray and wait I don’t believe that we are to do so quietly. Scripture tells us that the living creatures in heaven are crying out to God eternally, it tells us that creation is crying out for the appearing of the sons of God, I believe that we, the Body of Christ living in this age should join in that song. May we cry out in gratitude, sing in worship and create a commotion of harvest.