31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won't he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one-for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one-for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God's right hand, pleading for us.35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? ... 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.38 For I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow-not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below-indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I. I think we are all familiar with the idea of seeking higher levels in life. There are many areas of our lives in which we strive to better ourselves by reaching for higher levels of performance, competency or ability.
² In jobs for instance, we seek higher levels of responsibility and pay. Apprentice, Journeyman, Master.
² In sports and athletics, we seek to better our skills and improve our performance. Different Belts in Karate.
² And in education, we pass through various grade levels which mark our growth in knowledge. Lower level classes, upper division, undergraduate, post graduate.

1. Well so too, I believe the Christian life has levels. When it comes to the primary Christian virtues, they too have levels. There are levels of generosity, patience, kindness, humility and so on. (For instance few have reached my high level of humility). Well today there is one Christian virtue that should be on everyone's mind, the virtue of Thankfulness. And in thinking about thankfulness, I got to thinking how when we speak of being thankful, a person is not simply either thankful or not thankful. Thankfulness, in other words, is not an all or none virtue. Rather, in thankfulness, like in many other things, there are various levels of thankfulness. And this is good to know. For when we realize that just like other things in life so too there are various levels to thankfulness, we may identify at what level we are and so then strive to attain a higher level.

2. For instance, let us begin with the most basic level of thankfulness: Beginner Thankfulness. The Beginner level of Thankfulness is the person who has learned to be thankful for big things. This is the ground floor when it comes to skills of thankfulness. For example, how many of you have watched “Deal or No Deal?" I don't know about you, but when it first came out I really enjoyed that show. I like to pick a number and see how high I would go. And I like to see the people win. For when the people win, they go away thankful for the money they won. Well this is an example of Beginner Thankfulness. Even a beginner knows how to be thankful when they win something or are blessed with something really good. It takes no thought or effort at all to be thankful for winning the lottery or to express thanks when someone gives you a big gift. You do not need to practice being thankful when the boss takes you aside at work and gives you a promotion and a raise. To be thankful when these kind of things happen to us is almost a knee jerk, natural response that requires no great skill. Any beginner knows how to be thankful for big things.

3. So I got to thinking, what is the next higher level of thankfulness? Well, hopefully most of us reach the intermediate level of thankfulness which is thankfulness not only for big things but also small ordinary things. Now this intermediate thankfulness for small ordinary things is the ability to feel thankful not only for the big things of life, but is the ability to be thankful for those smaller, more common things that are blessings in all our lives. Some examples of these common ordinary even small blessings are
² people who do nice things for us or speak kind words to us in the course of a day
² a friend takes the time to say “thank you”
² a child who gives us a hug
² a spouse who makes us our favorite meal
² a stranger opens the door for you going into a store.
None of these things are really big things. They are small things, little blessings, pleasant experiences that happen. To be thankful for these kind of things in our lives requires a bit more skill and thought than beginner thankfulness. For these things do not hit us over the head like winning a million bucks. Rather to reach this intermediate level of thankfulness we have to be a bit more aware of those things that other people either overlook or take for granted. And what a good achievement it is in our lives to reach the intermediate level of thankfulness. For it increases our joy and gladness many times over.

4. Which brings us to the advanced level of Thankfulness. What do you suppose it is to reach the advanced level of thankfulness in your life? To attain advanced thankfulness a person must achieve the ability to be thankful for what I call “the blessings behind the bothers”. How many of us have things that “bother” us? We all have things that happen on an almost constant basis that are to us sources of irritation. And yet, often behind these bothers are blessings to see and for which to give thanks. For instance...
² behind the bother of laundry is a blessing of having clothes to wear.
² Behind the bother of a messy house lies the blessing of family and friends who made that mess and gladden our lives.
² Behind the bother of fixing a leaky faucet or raking leaves or painting or cleaning, is the blessing of having a home in which to live.
² Behind the bother of paying taxes is the wonderful blessing of having the health to work.
² Behind the bother of clothing that fits too tight, is the blessing of having enough and more than enough to eat.
² Behind the bother of paying for a tank of gasoline is the blessing of having a car and places to go.
You get the idea? To go beyond being a beginner and intermediate Giver of Thanks, we need to see the blessings behind the bothers in life. For when we see the blessings and not just the bothers, we have become advanced level of Thanksgiving.

5. Now there is one level of thankfulness beyond advanced, and that is to become an expert Thanks Giver. And the expert Thanks Giver is the person who needs nothing more than the love and grace and promise of God to be filled with a feeling of Thanksgiving. Yes, the expert at giving thanks is the person who can give thanks continually because of their faith and love for God. Now take careful note. This expert level is not thankfulness for what God does or for what God gives. This rather is thankfulness for God, period. This is a thankfulness for the things of heaven rather than the things of earth. For when it comes right down to it, all the other levels of thankfulness depend on things of earth.
Thankfulness for big things like promotions and winning, thankfulness for smaller things like a kind word from a friend or food on our table, and even thankfulness for blessed things behind the bothers, all these levels of thankfulness (while good and precious), still depend upon things of the earth. But this highest level of thankfulness does not depend on any earthly things at all. For the highest level of thankfulness is thankfulness for the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. For from this love nothing can separate us at all. Indeed, all things could be taken away from us, and this thankfulness remains. This is the expert level of thankfulness. And it is reached by putting our faith and trust in God and God alone.

C. Let us think of where we are in our life when it comes to being thankful. And let us not be content with being thankful beginners. Rather let us strive to grow in our thanksgiving until we are experts who are truly thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for us who belong to Christ Jesus. Amen.