New Church Life November/ December 2015 | Page 25

   in the Word. Following the meaning of a word and trying to see its relevance in our lives can take us through a study of the Word and dictionaries, and requires a bit of imagination to connect the facets of meaning to gain a picture of the range of meaning. Yet the picture is more in the impressionistic style than the sharp focus of an old master. Sometimes we have to close one eye and step back to get a sense of the whole. This article does not focus on a one-to-one translation, but on how words contain many aspects that we at times take for granted. I am following the example of translators who render a specific Hebrew or Greek or Latin word as “grace” or “favor.” It seems that they are interchangeable. For simplicity sake, I’m choosing “grace.” In the Word, the Lord is the source of grace or favor, and people receive it. The Psalms are filled with gratitu de for the grace of the Lord. A very familiar one is, “O, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good. For His mercy endures forever.” (Psalm 118:1) To be grateful is to recognize something given to us by another. This may be a gift, an opportunity, a word, an action, anything really that someone else gives us which stirs gratitude in our hearts. Part of experiencing gratitude is understanding what it is that we have been given. We can’t be grateful in a vacuum. A person who experiences something as a right, or a due, really doesn’t have to be grateful for it. A child does not have to be grateful for being fed by his or her parents, because children have a right to food, and parents have a responsibility to feed them. Later reflection may show an adult that his or her parents exceeded their responsibility, they gave more, tried harder, were more supportive than was necessary, and for this, we should be grateful. So gratitude is not the mere acceptance of what we are due, but the recognition of what we have been given freely by someone else. A friend who helps another is not obligated to give that help, but gives it from the kindness of heart. But when someone does a kindness from the heart, then gratitude is, or should be, the response. This is the connection between grace and gratitude. Grace is the giving; gratitude is the response. The connection is apparent in the words themselves: grace/gratitude/ grateful. When the grace comes from the Lord, our gratitude involves a recognition of Him, an acknowledgment of His presence with us, and a willingness to receive the things we receive by removing those aspects of our lives that would block them out. As we explore the way the word rendered “grace” or “favor” is used in the Word as a whole, we find that as the languages are different, so there are slightly different emphases that overall complement each other. By examining these, it becomes possible to form a concept or idea of the Lord’s grace toward 571