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What’s the most encouraging note a teacher wrote on your report card?
Maybe it was, “Great job this quarter!” Or “Fantastic job bringing your math grade up!”
The earliest comment I remember receiving on my report card was this: “Laughs at inappropriate times.” There was nothing added, no smiley face or “lol.” Just “Laughs at inappropriate times.” Which is funny because, if I recall, the teacher didn’t seem to have a sense of humor to begin with, so I’m not sure how she thought she knew the right or wrong time to think something was funny.
If the surrounding culture were to assign a “report card” to Christians, I hope they would write, “Gives thanks at inappropriate times.” Like a cheerful background vocalist clapping offbeat, our heritage as Christians is to thank God in times that feel off.
On one of his voyages, the apostle Paul in Acts 27 gave thanks, broke bread, and encouraged everybody on the ship to eat—a laughable mismatch to the situation. Two weeks earlier, a hurricane-force “Northeaster” had battered the ship so badly they had thrown the cargo overboard, cut loose the lifeboat, gone without food, and by now had given up all hope of surviving. Into this misery, Paul spoke thanksgiving.
In this, Paul was echoing Jesus, who “on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, broke it,” and distributed it to his disciples (1 Corinthians 11:23-24, NIV). Jesus pierced the night of greatest sorrow—betrayed, abandoned, denied, falsely accused, unjustly sentenced, awaiting execution—with “Father, we thank you.”
Disciples of Jesus give thanks at inappropriate times.
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