Please & Thank You
“Please” and “Thank you” are very important expressions. They recognize the value of others and God in our lives. We often teach our children to say “Please,” yet we need to make sure it doesn’t slip out of our own practical vocabulary.
“Please” comes from the expression, “If you please” – or more precisely, “If it pleases you.” So, when we ask someone to please do something, we are submitting our request to their judgment and desire. We are saying, in effect, if this idea brings you pleasure in some way, I would like you to do it for me. In other words, I believe this “thing” will bring me pleasure; if it seems right to you and will also bring you pleasure to do it, I would appreciate it. It is not an emotionally manipulative trump card that can be played in order to get your own way. Nor can it rightly ever be used as an exclamation or powerful imperative … “Please!” Rather it is a submissive term that recognizes the value of others and God in our lives.
God created and sustains all things at His own good pleasure. Recognition of the Father’s good pleasure brought Jesus joy (Luke 10:21), and it will bring us joy, too. So, we will do well to align our requests to what we believe will bring God delight, even when making requests of others. Though “Please” is an expression of care and good manners, it is so much more. When we add the vertical dimension to the term, “Please” becomes a recognition and expression of God’s Kingdom.
“Thank you” also has an important vertical dynamic. God is ultimately the source of everything good in life. “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:17) So, thanks can be a profound expression of worship – recognizing the Author, Sustainer and Care Giver of Life. Even when things seem to be going really poorly, we can rest in the reality that God is at work, working something good out of it on our behalf – as we seek Him. (Romans 1:28) Thus, we can be thankful in all circumstances, knowing that this is God’s will. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
Expression of thanks always includes at least two parties. The person/s to whom the gratitude is being expressed, and the source of the gratitude. It is always a recognition of what someone else has thought or done. Thus, just as with “Please,” when we say, “I thank you,” we are recognizing our place in God’s Kingdom and in community with others.
What if you were to infuse your “Pleases” and “Thanks” with intentional Kingdom meaning and content? What if you renewed yourself daily in the reality that your very life and existence are at God’s pleasure, and you spent real time every day expressing specific thanks to God? I assure you that your life will become richer – and others will see your thankfulness multiply and be drawn to you. People (and God) enjoy being around thankful, humble people like you.
Thankfully at your pleasure,
Pastor Tom
tgriffith@rolcboston.org
