What comes first has meaning. For many, work comes first, or duty. For others, personal challenges are central. You may be faced with a challenging job and wonder how it could possibly succeed. Or you’re about to have an important meeting and you’re thinking about how to start the conversation. Whatever we do, we do it with a certain attitude. In this attitude, we set priorities. We proceed in a certain way, perhaps demanding, or curious, full of joy or with reluctance. So how are these priorities set? Are we consciously prioritizing our attitudes?
Gratitude first
If we think about priorities in our lives, what Paul writes to the church in Rome stands out:
“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for the sake of all of you …”
Rom 1:8 (Schlachter 2000)
Gratitude is the number one priority here. This is how Paul begins a particularly long letter. He does not yet personally know the church in Rome to which the letter is addressed. He probably longs to visit the church one day (Rom 1:11).
Before getting to the many important issues he addresses in this letter, the apostle begins with thanksgiving.
I thank my God …
“First I thank my God …” This is the beginning and immediately a specification. In Paul’s list of priorities, he puts a clear emphasis here. Acknowledgement comes first. And he does not thank the Romans, but he thanks his God for the Romans and for what they lived in faith. In this he includes the whole audience in Rome. Although he has never been to Rome and knows only a few in the church (Rom 16), he already gives thanks for all of them. This is the expression of an attitude that goes all out, that has the whole community in view.
In the vernacular there is the saying “giving thanks protects from wavering”. This is indeed true, because thanksgiving directs our inner eye, our heart, to good things. This is how we consciously shape our lives.
If we want to do something good for ourselves, our fellow human beings and our life of faith, we can always consider thanksgiving first. This is quite practical because it transforms our lives. What Paul himself exemplifies here, he also shows as the way for the Romans. Building on the preaching of the gospel, the apostle comes to speak about the way of life in chapters 12 to and including 16. Here the impact of the Good News for our everyday life is condensed. The apostle writes:
“And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the will of God: that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Rom 12:2
Be transformed! Thus, Paul challenges the Romans to engage in a process of renewal. Or as it says in the Concordant New Testament: “… to be transformed by the renewing of your mind”.
A remodel is something like a re-furnishing of the house. It is to be lived differently in the same house. It should be better lived in it. There is to be a daily church service in it.
In many of his letters Paul prefaces prayer, and in it often thanksgiving (1Cor 1:4 2Cor 1:3, Eph 1:3 and Eph 1:15-23, Phi 1:3, Col 1:3-6, Col 1:12-14, 1Th 1:2-3, 2Th 1:3 and 2Th 1:11-12, 1Tim 1:12 and 1Tim 1:17, 2Tim 1:3-5). These examples can show us how important it is for a healthy spiritual life to give gratitude a high priority.
And why not test that, today for example? Gratitude first.
