Attitude of Thankfulness

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

ATTITUDE OF THANKFULNESS

Rom 1:8-10

8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. 9 God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you 10 in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God's will the way may be opened for me to come to you.

NIV

First things, first and that is all about thanking God through Jesus Christ. Although this 'thinking' is something we need to focus on because we are to thank God for all the other believers. However, before we delve into the idea of thanking God for all the believers, we have to take note that Paul is saying that he thanks God through Jesus Christ. This may be the first time we noticed this although we have read this passage numerous times over the years. It is interesting how this small Greek word dia, puts everything in context. It is a primary preposition denoting the channel of an act. Therefore, it would seem right that it would be less appropriate to good directly to God the Father to thank him than it would go through Jesus Christ as we thank the Father. How that looks exactly is still in need of some pondering so as to get ahold or grasp the pure meaning here. Perhaps the more correct, if there is any one correct way to respond or to engage in prayer with the Father, it would seem to us, that we might say something along this way, “ Father we come to you in the name of Jesus Christ and we want to thank you for all the fellow believers we both know personally or at least are acquainted with, as well as all those who we personally have no knowledge about, yet we are aware there are many believers throughout the world". If we take our cue from Paul, it would seem that he did not know any of those believers in Rome, as he had yet to come to Rome when he appealed his case to Caesar. So, he is thanking God through Jesus Christ for believers he does not have any personal contact with. From our research, it appears most biblical scholars put Paul in Corinth, in his third missionary Journey when he wrote this letter to the fairly new church established in Rome, which it seems no one is sure who founded. It is thought that perhaps some believing Jews after that day of Pentecost traveled back to their original locations where some Jews may have been living in Rome. Leaving Jerusalem, they returned to Rome and started a small home church that grew and grew to a point that it was well known around the known world, which Paul mentions. However, before we consider that, we need to stay on point about thanking God through Jesus Christ for all other believers. We think that if we are always in an attitude of thankfulness for other believers, it would or should eliminate attitudes like, jealousy, envy, bitterness, and unforgiveness, which come from holding some sort of grudge, which results or is the result of hurt feelings. Once again, taking our cue from Paul, we should always have an attitude of thankfulness for all who have faith in Jesus Christ.