Optimist’s Roundtable
By Martha Sykes
In the first chapter of the gospel of John, we can read of how Andrew had an encounter with Jesus. On this very special occasion, he found the Messiah and was so excited he couldn’t stand still. Immediately after that, he gratefully and excitedly ran to share that good news with his brother Simon. Then Andrew brought Simon Peter to Jesus. This was how great Andrew was. He was the man who was always introducing others to Jesus. We can read of three different times in the scripture where Andrew is bringing someone to meet Jesus. You see, after he found Jesus he couldn’t help it. He had to share Christ with others.
Andrew, along with the people of his time had been longing for the Messiah to come, hoping for the Messiah , and praying for this to happen!! So when he finally did find Jesus, he was so incredibly grateful. And that’s what Christianity is all about. Being grateful to God for the gift of His Son is a huge part of our Christian life.
A teacher once asked her students to make a list of what they thought were the greatest wonders of the world. Well, instead of this one girl listing many wonders of the world, this was her list: to be able to see, to hear, to touch, to feel, to taste, to laugh, and to love. After she read her list, you could’ve heard a pin drop. Instead of being so captivated by man-made things, this little girl realized that we have many gifts from God that sometimes we take for granted.
The Psalmist tells us to ”Make a joyful noise to the Lord, and to serve the Lord with gladness! Come into His presence with singing! Know that the Lord is God that He made us and we are His. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise! Give thanks to Him and bless His name.”
This is just one sample of how the Psalms reverberate with gratitude. When we take time to look around us and around the world, we have to feel grateful for what we have. Being a Christian, we can’t help but be grateful when we see how blessed we are to have an awesome God to serve!
That is why Andrew kept bringing people to Christ because he had so much confidence in the Lord. Things were not always perfect, times, and situations were sometimes hard, but Andrew never lost his confidence in Christ.
