Dear Friends,

There is a correction necessary to last week’s message (8/25/14). Mt. St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980, not 1982.
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I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned for me, but had no opportunity to show it. Not that I am referring to being in need; for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and going hungry, having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. In any case, it was kind of you to share my distress (Phil 4:10-14) Saul of Tarsus was a “get-it-done” guy.

His education, energy, religious devotion, and intelligence brought him to the attention of the religious leadership. He was just the man to eradicate the growing movement of believers in the crucified Jesus.

“Recant or die” was his method of dealing with the believers. Saul imprisoned and killed them. Why spend time arguing about beliefs, when you can eliminate the believers?

Using force to suppress faith is like trying to put out a campfire by stomping on it. Sparks will fly and the fire will grow. Zealots like Saul go ahead and stomp anyway in the conviction of their righteousness. “Breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord,” Saul went on the road with his persecution activities (Acts 9:1-2).

Jesus will be righteous for you, but he doesn’t tolerate righteousness as a “do-it-yourself” project. He stepped in and knocked Saul off of his sanctimonious “high horse” and blinded him with light.

Jesus asked the stricken Saul, “Why do you persecute me?” Saul asked, “Who are you, Lord?” That’s when he met Jesus as his Savior right there on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:3-9).

When Jesus becomes Lord of your life, it does not necessarily mean a personality change. A hard-driving, Type-A personality like Saul, even when he becomes a missionary like Paul, is still going to push hard for the sake of principle and be more interested in results than people’s feelings. I know this from experience.

A decision looms for the able, driven disciple of Christ. Do you insist on being correct? Or do you want to persuade others that Christ is our righteousness?

Effective Christian witness and Christian leadership are always about helping people understand that they matter to a God of love. “Know-it-alls” who run rough-shod over people are notably ineffective in changing minds and hearts.

As Jesus lived on this earth in intimate communion with the Father, so we live in intimate communion with Jesus and with each other in his love (John 6:57; 15:9-17). If a relationship with Jesus doesn’t change how we think and feel about each other, we really don’t know Jesus (Eph 4:1-5, 25-5:1; 1 John 4:10-12). There is so much Scripture for this proposition that it is beyond dispute.

Certainly, the Holy Spirit bore its fruit in Paul’s heart. He was imprisoned in Rome when he wrote the Philippians in appreciation that they were concerned for him and kindly shared his distress. Although he had come to believe that God supplied all his needs, he also recognized that one of the chief lines of God’s provision was through people.

Jesus taught that those who serve must also be willing to be served (Mark 10:41-45). Paul was brilliant, but the Lord taught him brilliance was not enough. “If I have all faith, . . but do not have love, I am nothing,” he wrote the Corinthians (1 Cor 13:2).

Mark tells the story of a paralyzed man whose friends carried him to a home where Jesus was ministering. Unable to find a way in through the crowd, they tore a hole in the roof, and lowered their buddy down to Jesus for healing (Mark 2:2-5).

The poor man was in dire straits, incapacitated and dependent. He couldn’t do a thing for himself, but his friends brought him into the room, trusting Jesus to do what needed to be done. Jesus forgave the man’s sins and healed him, but without the friends he wouldn’t have known Jesus or reached him. Most miracles of healing and forgiveness start with the prayerful, kind intercession of friends.

Paul’s life proves the point. From the moment that Ananias set aside his fear and his prejudice to obey the Lord Jesus and lead the blinded Saul back to vision and fellowship, Paul benefited from the kindness of fellow believers every place he went on his missionary journeys. For every flogging and beating, there was someone to dress his wounds. In imprisonment and affliction, he received companionship, prayer and encouragement.

A critical mass of love carried Paul from the darkness in Damascus through the cities of the Roman Empire to his proclamation of the gospel in Rome itself. God had blessed him with people. He wrote to the Philippians from his cell, “I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now” (Phil 1:3-5).

The sure mark of faith is gratitude and love is the catalytic agent that leads from one to the other. Gratitude is the confession that someone else is responsible–our God and the people he puts in our lives.

It is my privilege as the general counsel to a large academic medical center to work with some of the finest attorneys in the world. They are strong professionals, but also persons of integrity, ideals and in some cases, faith. My colleagues and I make it a point to thank these men and women for their services, and never take them for granted.

One of them in particular, a tough litigator with a national reputation in healthcare law, recently expressed some bemusement on a phone call in which I thanked his colleagues and him for some expert assistance with some regulatory issues. He was uncharacteristically out-of-sorts. He blurted out to me “We are not like you. We don’t know how to respond to your kindness.”

In response I wrote him this email.

Dear Friend,
I was on a cell phone in a busy hotel lobby when I spoke with you this afternoon. I am not entirely sure what I heard from you, but you seemed to be making a distinct point that you were uncomfortable when it comes to our expressions of “thanks” and “appreciation” to you and your colleagues for service. “We are not you,” is what you said, and “cannot respond as you may wish.”
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Whatever you are getting at, make no mistake that we understand that Loma Linda is the client and your firm is the counsel. I called you because you perform important legal services for us and I thought you would like to be informed of significant changes in our organization. You thanked me for doing so and that is that. We are not looking to you for anything more than quality legal services honestly delivered for a fee when we request them.
The fact that Kerry, Chris, and I frequently express our gratitude for those services is unfortunately unusual in large firm-client relations as you and I have discussed in the past. As one of your partners said, “Your ‘thank you,’ is more than we expect. We are usually just glad when a client pays our bill.'”
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The average “indifferent” treatment of attorneys by clients who view us as no more than a “necessary evil” is not what should be the normal reaction, especially in an institution of faith like Loma Linda. Gratitude is the natural outgrowth of the faith that Kerry, Chris and I hold dear. That faith in Christ is the primary reason that we serve as counsel here.
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Our gratitude is our acknowledgement that the good service we receive is appreciated beyond what we pay for it. People of faith tend to be grateful because gratitude expresses our understanding that we are the beneficiaries of the skills and gifts of others starting with our God and those who he sends to our aid.
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We treasure those, like you and your colleagues, who help us be a better organization and better professionals because you do your jobs well on our behalf and with an attitude of courteous client service. We consider access to the assistance of counsel of your caliber to be much more than a business necessity. It is a blessing we do not take for granted.
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Thank you again for your many kindnesses over the years. We look forward to working with you and your colleagues in the future.
Best regards,
Kent

Jesus said that whether others are grateful to us is irrelevant to our mercy towards them. “Expect nothing in return. . . and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:35-36).

That doesn’t mean we can serve without gratitude. Our thanksgiving begins with the Lord who gives us life. We grow from there in love, faith and gratitude in amazing and humbling ways.

We believe in salvation by Christ and living by faith in Christ but these are not abstractions. Christ can show up any time in the crowd that surrounds us, and always in the people who need us most (John 5:13; Luke 10:37; Matt 25:34-40). He certainly shows up in those men and women who help us with kindness and encouragement.

Anyone who lives with passion for Christ and the cause of his kingdom of love and light will come to be thankful for the help of others and how he uses them to teach us. Over time we learn that forgiveness is the wrench that loosens the over-stressed and frozen machinery of our relationships. Gratitude is the lubricant that keeps them functioning well.

We can do nothing of lasting worth on our own. Self-sufficiency has the severe limitations of self. The proud and independent will never have the Creator’s power.

Those whose self-righteousness is melted away by Christ and replaced by his own righteousness are humbled to amazed reverence by the tender hearts that come with his presence. Such hearts recognize and respond to the distress of others with kindness as sacred opportunities rather than problems.

Paul saw that the Philippians had gained such gracious hearts only because he had gained one himself. This is the way that Christ prepares his witnesses and leaders.

“O taste and see that the Lord is good. Happy are those who take refuge in him” (Ps 34:8).

Under the mercy of Christ,

Kent

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Please note that the content and viewpoints of Mr. Hansen are his own and are not necessarily those of the C.S. Lewis Foundation. We have not edited his writing in any substantial way and have permission from him to post his content.

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Kent Hansen is a Christian attorney, author and speaker. He practices corporate law and is the managing attorney of the firm of Clayson, Mann, Yaeger & Hansen in Corona, California. Kent also serves as the general counsel of Loma Linda University and Medical Center in Loma Linda, California.

Finding God’s grace revealed in the ordinary experiences of life, spiritual renewal in Christ and prayer are Kent’s passions. He has written two books, Grace at 30,000 Feet and Other Unexpected Placespublished by Review & Herald in 2002 and Cleansing Fire, Healing Streams: Experiencing God’s Love Through Prayer, published by Pacific Press in spring 2007. Many of his stories and essays about God’s encompassing love have been published in magazines and journals. Kent is often found on the hiking trails of the southern California mountains, following major league baseball, playing the piano or writing his weekly email devotional, “A Word of Grace for Your Monday” that is read by men and women from Alaska to Zimbabwe.

 

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