“In everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.”
1 Thessalonians 5:18
I've been working hard at applying this verse lately.
But it hasn't always been easy. Especially when I discovered a couple of days ago that my credit card was hacked –
for the second month in a row!
Yet, God is faithful. And He did give me reason for gratitude.
So much so, I decided to write a thank you note to the fraudster:
“Dear Thief,
I want to thank you – believe it or not – for stealing my credit card information recently.
To be clear, I am the guy who owns the card you used to charge over $100 dollars worth of Redbox movies.
...Wow, that's a lot of
movies!
Now I must confess, when I first realized your fraud, I was quite teed off.
I had just replaced this card, and now had to go through the time and inconvenience to replace it again.
So... while
waiting on the phone for the heavily accented support person from my credit card company, it was natural for me to want to curse you out...
And I began to think what a pitiful person you must be to pilfer people's private info in this way.
And I thought how sad it is for you to use your abilities in
such a dishonest way...
And that you really ought to put your efforts into finding a job... and earning your money.
… Now after thinking about you like this for a minute or so, I was feeling quite self-righteous about myself...
After all, I have never committed credit card fraud...
… I don't even know how!
...
But then it hit me... and I realized I'm
more like you than I want to admit.
Because I too... have looked for shortcuts... tried to work the system... and sought the easy way... rather than develop and use my gifts for good.
And I now see in a fresh way what a waste it is to spend one's life trying to suck what you can out of people rather
than honing your gifts to serve them in constructive ways.
And for this I give you thanks.
Because of what you've done, I have a new focus on using what God has given me to contribute to the lives of others... not take from them.
So...
what you meant for evil, God meant for good.
And I can only hope He would work in you in a similar way.
To God be the glory!