It often feels like the world is conspiring to make us less and less thankful for the many blessings God gives us. We have so much to be thankful for! We enjoy material abundance, the gift of living in this part of Melbourne, fellowship with our brothers and sisters at Berwick Anglican Church, and above all, the love and grace and eternal life God has lavished on us in Jesus Christ! But I often find myself overlooking all these wonderful things, and if I’m not careful can become grumpy by focusing on one or two small problems in my life.

If gratitude drains from our hearts, we become more cynical, more complaining and more discouraged. Our perspective can become warped, we can lose hope and fail to see things as they really are. We start to focus on what we don’t have and forget all the great things we already possess.

But this should not happen to Christian people! As Paul reminds us in First Thessalonians; ‘Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus’ (NIV 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

A good practice of prayer is to review each day in the evening, and then thank God for three things that you are grateful for from the day. As per the advice in Thessalonians, doing so will build gratitude in your heart, train you to be thankful in all circumstances, and help you to be joyful always.

Why not take a moment now to prayerfully give thanks to God for three things you are thankful for at Berwick Anglican Church?

Rev. Ben Soderlund

This week at Berwick Anglican Church we start a new sermon series on the book of First John, called ‘Travel Tips for the Christian Journey’.

John wrote this book because he was concerned about false teaching that was creeping into the Christian communities he looked after. This false teaching was causing splits and conflicts. John wanted to reassure the church that they already had the true gospel of Jesus Christ and to help them combat that counterfeit ‘gospel’ in their midst.

Bible scholars have noticed three key themes in First John that are often called John’s ‘Tests of Life’ with which Christians can recognise and combat false teaching. First John teaches that we can recognise true Christians by their:

1. Having right beliefs about Jesus: e.g. ‘If anyone acknowledges
   Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God ’ (NIV)(4:15);
2. Keeping God’s commandments: e.g ‘We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands’ (NIV) (2:4); and
3. Practicing love for one another: e.g. ‘We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death’ (NIV) (3:14).

We too can use these Tests of Life, both to encourage one another in our Christian walks, and also to help us distinguish genuine spirituality from the false.

Rev. Ben Soderlund

All the surveys of public opinion said the same thing: the vast majority of Australians agreed it was good idea to ban single-use plastic bags from our supermarkets. It’s a great reform! A no-brainer if you will. Getting rid of plastic bags removes a major source of pollution for relatively little economic cost. Of course we want it happen! Get on with it supermarkets!

But then it happened. And both in store and on social media people have been… outraged! Thoughts of the environment have quickly faded.

• Its such an inconvenience!
• Its too hard to bring our own bags to the supermarket!
• How dare they make me do it!
• Who do they think they are!

What is a good idea in our minds, can be easily transformed into an outrage in our hearts, if its implementation dares to challenge one of the major idols of our age: convenience.

In a self-centred culture like ours, we feel entitled to have our preferences and our needs and our desires at the centre of all activity. And even small challenges to that can cause outrage – which is what we have seen at check-outs around the nation this week.

Beware of the sinful heart that grumbles at minor inconveniences, especially inconveniences caused by good changes! Christian discipleship is often inconvenient. After-all, we follow a crucified Lord who tells us to pick up our crosses and follow him. And in a growing and changing Church like ours that seeks to grow and change even further for the gospel, sometimes we will face inconvenience. But when we do, let it be an opportunity to put aside our own interests and instead come together in grace for the benefit of Church and the gospel.

Ben Soderlund