After three days of futile attempts to lure her pet parrot, Jessie, off the roof of her home, a London resident called for help. When the London Fire Brigade arrived on the scene, Jessie gave the firefighter on the ladder, arms extended toward her a nasty surprise. “Bugger off,” she said in perfect pirate parrot talk only in much more vigorous and vulgar fashion. This stranded bird turned the air blue cursing out the very firefighter trying to rescue her.
Watch manager Chris Swallow explained the firefighters’ protocol for this parrot rescue in the Huffington Post. “We were told that to bond with the parrot, you have to tell her ‘I love you,’ which is exactly what the crew manager did. While Jessie responded ‘I love you’ back, we then discovered that she had a bit of a foul mouth and kept swearing, much to our amusement.”
As it turned out, Jessie was fine. After a few minutes interacting with the crew manager, the Macaw parrot flew off, first to another roof and then onto a tree. Embarrassed by her parrot’s conduct, Jessie’s owner uploaded to twitter a video of her pet saying “Thank you.”
Isn’t it true? Ingratitude spreads like gangrene, even to those whom we think aren’t paying attention. Gratitude on the other hand, is always useful, even when it arrives late on the scene. So how do we parrot a grateful spirit by the Spirit?
In Paul’s letter to the church at Colossae, he offered some fresh insight to help them live more authentically as followers of Christ. False teaching had introduced heresy into the church, and Paul wanted to remind them to practice the very attitude of Christ as they interacted with others. After listing such qualities as compassion, kindness, patience, humility, and the like, he ends this section of his letter with an interesting appeal for gratitude: “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful” (Colossians 3:15).
Notice what isn’t said first. Paul didn’t say get more things or have better experiences and you will be more grateful. No. More gratitude will not come from acquiring more things or experiences, no matter how many commercials parrot that message.
What Paul does say is that when the peace of Christ has the run of the house in our heart, thankfulness won’t be far off. He literally says, “Let the peace of Christ continually decide as an umpire or arbitrate in your hearts.” He’s using a word used of a judge in the public Greek games who might disqualify an opponent for cause or reward a contestant the prize for victory. That he says is what you let the settled assurance that you are right in God’s sight by his grace do for you. When the peace of God is my inner umpire I am more prone to get to gratitude.
“Heart be envious about that person!” Umpire Peace responds unruffled, “Out of bounds! Has not Christ given us the wonder of oneness in the body? Envy you are outta here!” “He didn’t give you the credit you deserve. He is so arrogant to slight you like that.” Thus the heart speaks. But what does Umpire Peace of Christ say? “Has not Christ made arrogant you right with him at great cost? Do you not bask in his forgiveness and grace though you often slight him? Let the hurt go. Be glad – in fact be grateful and thank him for the chance to suffer slight with Christ yet know he who sees all will settle all accounts well on the final day.” Do you see how this works? Parroting a Spirit-given gratitude is often a by-product of letting the peace of Christ have supremacy in your heart.
Once, during the winter in the off season – an umpire in a local Denver, Colorado softball league was pulled over for speeding. He begged for mercy explaining that normally he was a very good driver who obeyed speed limits but he was running late for an important appointment for his mother-in-law. The officer who’d pulled him over wasn’t buying it. “Tell it to the judge,” he said in rather surly fashion as he signed the ticket and handed it to him.
Well, when softball season rolled around that same umpire was behind the plate for his first game. And guess who the very first batter to step up to the plate was for the very first at bat of the new softball season? Yep – the very cop who’d given the umpire his speeding ticket. Both men recognized each other at once. It was more awkward for the cop than for the umpire. The cop kicked a little dirt around, stepped out of the box and asked, “So how did the thing with the ticket go?” The umpire removed his mask glared and said, “You’d better swing at every pitch son, swing at every pitch!”
This is the authority of an umpire. Thanks to Christ’s victory over sin and death becoming ours this is the authority the peace of God has in our hearts as an umpire. Only the rule of Christ – Umpire Peace of God – rules in only right ways when it is untainted by sin. Let it cultivate thankfulness in your life. Jettison the grumbling and ingratitude. Find the benefits and bless the Lord even though you will never have everything the way you would exactly want it this side of heaven. And you watch that spirit of gratitude will find praise on your lips as you begin parroting a grateful spirit by the Spirit. Jesus see to it in all our lives for thankfulness warms our Lord’s heart to no end.
