Be grateful for suffering.
We’ve reached the final day of our series on Groundbreaking Gratitude, and of course, we’re going to end it with looking at our ultimate example: Jesus.
Depending on your Bible translation, there are seven or eight moments recorded where Jesus is specifically said to have given thanks.
Remarkably, three of those times happened during the Last Supper as described in Luke 22, Matthew 26, and Mark 14.
Jesus paused three times during the meal to give thanks— before sharing the cup, before breaking the bread, and again after supper, before taking another cup.
What makes this so extraordinary is that Jesus was fully aware of what was awaiting Him on the other side of that dinner. It was only hours later that He was sweating blood in anguish over what was ahead of Him: the cross (Luke 22:42-44).
And yet, during that final dinner, Jesus gave thanks. Not once but thrice.
These were not just the obligatory blessings offered before a meal. The entire Last Supper pictured the sacrifice Jesus was about to make on the cross; His body broken and His blood poured out.
By giving thanks for the bread–representing his body–and the cup–representing His blood–He was, in effect, thanking His Father for the suffering He was about to endure.
Jesus gave His life for the salvation of mankind, not with coercion, but with gratitude. Grateful for the privilege of obeying his Father and of fulfilling the mission He had been sent to earth to complete (John 3:16-17).
I would like to close this week of gratitude fittingly by giving thanks… for you. My prayer is from Ephesians 1:16-17.
Heavenly Father, thank You for Your faithfulness, provision and redemption in their life and for making them a part of our Chamatkar family. Would You give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that they may know You better.
