Thanksgiving Day is approaching. How do you show thanks? An old fable teaches a timeless lesson about thankfulness:
Soon after a barber set up shop in a new town, the Catholic priest came in for a haircut. When he was finished, the priest reached for his wallet, but the barber waved him off, saying, “Forget it, Padre, you are a man of the cloth. The haircut is on me.”
The priest was grateful, and the next day when the barber went to open his shop, waiting for him were one dozen boxes of chocolate.
Later that day a Rabbi came in for a haircut, and again the barber waved off payment. The rabbi was grateful, and the next day when the barber went to open his shop, waiting for him were one dozen bagels.
Soon after that, a Baptist pastor came by for a trim. Again, the barber gave him the cut at no charge. The minister was grateful, and the next day when the barber went to open his shop, waiting for him were one dozen Baptist preachers.
Is your thankfulness expressed in selfish ways?
Jesus told a parable of a man who owed a king a huge sum of money, and when he begged the king for patience, the king forgave it all. But soon afterward the man who had been forgiven so much found an acquaintance who owed him a relatively small amount of money, and grabbed him and started choking him, demanding payment. When the king heard about it, he summoned the ungrateful man and threw him in jail for failing to show mercy (Matthew 18:23-35). The point of the parable is that since God forgave our sins, we should show mercy to others.
Most of us would not be as cruel as the man in Jesus’ parable, or as presumptuous as the preacher in my fable. But we may be guilty of looking at others for what we can get out of them rather than for what we can give to them.
For Christians, since Jesus has given us our very reason for life and the hope of eternal life, we ought to be sharing life with others at every opportunity.
Look around you. Who could you thank for touching your life? Who has a need you could meet?
Decide right now that you’ll express your thankfulness with generosity. When you do, you’ll discover the reason for Thanksgiving Day.
Copyright 2008 by Bob Rogers. For more “Holy Humor,” visit the Web site of First Baptist Church of Rincon at www.fbcrincon.com.
