Gratitude

Passage: Lord’s Day 32; Romans 6:15-19

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 is currently in theaters. If you’ve seen Part 1, you know that it ends with the tragic death of a character named Dobby. Dobby is a house elf – a species of magical creature born and bred to serve as slaves. Dobby is introduced in the second installment of the Harry Potter corpus (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets). At first he appears to be a nuisance, impeding Harry’s progress and getting him into trouble. Later it turns out that Dobby has in fact been repeatedly preventing Harry from falling into the hands of his enemies. Eventually, Harry sets Dobby free from a very abusive master. For this, Dobby commits his life to serving Harry. Ultimately, as we see in the last installment of the series, Dobby goes so far as to lay down his life for his friend. Whereas he had once slaved out of obligation and duty, Dobby becomes a slave to love. His service, and sacrifice, are expressions of his immense gratitude.

The Christian life is primarily a life of gratitude. Jesus Christ offers to save people from slavery – slavery to sin and death. Jesus’ invitation is to live a life of freedom. If you’ve been faced with slavery or certain death, the guarantee of freedom is life-altering. Every moment is a gift. You never forget the one who has afforded you this gift. And you never forget what you owe them.

The assumption of the Catechism is that the life of obedience to which we are called is not a life of obligation. We pursue the rigors and sacrifices of the Christian life not because we’re indebted, but because we’re grateful. Every moment is a gift – one which we savor with joy. Whether we’re celebrating or serving, gratitude colors everything we do. If we keep in mind that every act of self-discipline or service is enacted on behalf of our Savior, we will find surprising joy in everything we do. We “do good” not to earn our salvation, but because we have been saved.