Today is
Wednesday, November 21, 2018. It is the day before Thanksgiving Day. I have seen many folks posting on social media a different item or area of thankfulness for each day leading up to Thanksgiving Day. For believers in Jesus, the fact that He died on our behalf, called us, and we responded to His saving rescue, means our salvation will always be at the top of the list. Nothing can top that in this world. Nothing. My paraphrase: "What shall it profit someone to gain the whole world but end up losing their soul?" (Gospel of Mark, Chapter 8, Verse 36) I see those who are generally thankful for being born in this country. After all, that's where this tradition of setting aside a day to thank God came from. Many mention family, the job they have, the financial resources they possess, and the freedoms that are ours to enjoy. These are wonderful reasons for anyone to be thankful. However, the spiritual relationship with God is still the whole duty of man. (Ecclesiastes 12:13) The unsurpassed privilege of being known as a child of the Living God, Creator of all things, through the finished work of Jesus the Christ, that my friend, is the ultimate reason for having a thankful heart. We might well ask how a true heart of thanksgiving reveals itself. Simply stated, but profound in both its explanation as well as its application is our calling to Love the Lord our God with every fiber of our being and then, as a result, to love others as we love ourselves. (Matthew 22:37-39) Thankfully, God knows we cannot do this on our own. He has given Himself in the presence of His abiding Holy Spirit who lives within us and seeks to help our infirmities so that we might love the Lord and others as the priority of our lives. That should give me something to think about during our time set aside to focus on thankfulness. What say you?
Yesterday, I wrote on the email accompanying my blog that many receive, it had this as the subject line: I am thankful for being thankful. If you recognize the grace God has shown in your life. If you recognize His working on your behalf. If you see your total dependence upon Him. If you hear from Him often as He speaks through His Word. And, your response is one of humility and thankfulness, may I just say that response in and of itself is a blessing from above. When we really see ourselves as God sees us and realize our dependence upon Him and His willingness to shower us with His grace, well, we rejoice with a thankful heart. Why is it that at times we have an issue with a lack of thankfulness? The Apostle Peter told those he wrote to, by Holy Spirit inspiration, that if they fail to stay focused on the things that build them up in the faith, it can develop a serious problem. One that Peter calls a
forgetting problem. Here's how he put it, "For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins." (2nd Peter 1:9) It is pretty scary, in fact, it's frightening, to think a true believer can get off track to the extent they FORGET their sins have been washed away by the blood of the Lamb. Someone in that situation, since they have forgotten, they will not be thankful for the greatest gift they could ever have. See what I mean? We need to stay focused so that our walk with the Lord informs the living out of our life each and every day.
Amen.
Again, please don't picture me as the red-faced preacher with a condemning message. I am only sharing my story, and I'm doing so from the perspective of one who knows how much he needs the Lord every single second of every single minute of every single hour of every single day. "Lord, help us to see all that You have done in the past, are doing in the present, and that we are assured of from You in the future." When we get a glimpse of these blessings, well, we will have a bubbling up and overflowing of thankfulness to our Great God.
Amen. .....More later.
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