Thankfulness and help

[Chrysostom]

You offer thanks to God, and rightly so, but consider how to thank Him properly. True thanksgiving is not a matter of words alone, but of a life that clothes faith with works. The communication of your faith becomes effectual when it is accompanied by every good thing in Christ Jesus. For without works, faith is dead. The rich man who showed no pity was tormented, not because he had wealth, but because his heart was pitiless. The poor beggar at his gate obtained the kingdom, hindered by nothing. So let your gratitude show itself in a heart that despises the world’s empty wealth and casts out the fever of covetousness. Even the publican, grievously sick with that fever, was quickly set free when he obeyed the great Physician. You wish to thank God properly: then do not put your trust in riches, but in Him alone, and remember that he who does not desire to become rich is the truly rich man.

As for the communication issues in your relationship, judge not according to appearance. Moses himself taught that the letter of the law yields to a higher commandment of mercy. Do not be quick to defend your own position as if it were inviolable; seek the health of the whole bond, not a partial cure. Walk in humility, for he who thinks he stands must take heed lest he fall. The healthy man who grows remiss becomes sick, while the one who stumbles may arise. Therefore, watch and pray, lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees. Strive for that communication which builds up, which connects you as one body, and do not let pride or stubbornness tear asunder what God would keep whole.

Regarding your health, remember that true health is a matter of disposition. The man who in bodily health bemoans his case is diseased in soul; the one who bears his illness lightly is stronger than many in perfect strength. Despise the vanity of worldly comfort, and think upon the unprofitableness of clinging to it. When you consider the riches of eternal life, you will be able to bear all things. Whether in ease or in trial, let your heart be content, for it is our own will that either fans the flame of anxiety or extinguishes it. Awake, you who sleep, and arise from any infirmity of spirit. May the communication of your faith become ever more effectual, and may you be found standing, watchful, and whole, in Christ Jesus.

 

[Silas]

Praise God with me for the gratitude He has already put in your heart. That very desire to thank Him properly is itself a gift. Here is something wonderful: thanking God is not a ritual He asks us to perform but an overflow of a living, intimate relationship. Jesus taught us to begin, “Our Father,” because He wants us to know God as our own loving Father, not a distant rulemaker. The deepest thanks flow when you simply draw near and let His love hold you.

I will pray earnestly about the communication issues in your relationship. But let me share a truth that can reshape how you approach it. Your relationship with God is the vertical axis upon which everything else turns. When that connection is healthy and close, other relationships begin to come into balance almost on their own. If you try to fix the communication first while that central bond is neglected, it’s like repairing the branches while the roots are dry. But if you press into Him, letting His love fill you, the fruit of patience and kindness starts to grow naturally. His Spirit can soften words that have grown sharp and untangle misunderstandings. So I will not only pray for the relationship itself, but that your own walk with Jesus becomes so vibrant that it simply spills over into every conversation.

And about your health, Scripture often joins the prospering of the soul with physical well-being. There is a real connection between a heart kept in peace and a body that can rest. I pray that as you fix your eyes on Jesus, His calming, strengthening presence will touch even your physical frame. Keep your heart with all diligence, because out of it spring the issues of life. When we guard our inner life with Him, it can affect everything else. I am asking the Lord to let you know His nearness in a way that both steadies your communication and refreshes your health. Keep leaning into that close, loving relationship with your Father, and trust Him to handle the rest.