Be joyful always; pray continually; give
thanks in all circumstances,
for this is God's will for you in Christ
Jesus.
(1
Thessalonians 5:16-18)
At
Thanksgiving, we tend to focus solely on the
material
blessings for which we're thankful, the things
we possess that make our lives more pleasant and
comfortable.
But let's not
forget the many spiritual
blessings we've received, such as mercy, grace,
salvation, heaven, and abundant life. These,
too, are gracious gifts for which the Lord
deserves our thanks.
We need to be
thankful for some other things, as well. Here
are four in particular we often overlook:
1.
Things we take for granted
Do we
thank God for the air we breathe or the sun
that comes up every morning? Do we thank Him
for gravity that keeps us from floating off
into space? Probably not!
We tend to
forget that God not only created the earth
and all that is in it, but that each and
every moment of time He also upholds it by
His power (Hebrews 1:3).
The truth is
that we are utterly and totally dependent
upon God' s grace and power for the very
lives we live.
2.
Things that do not happen
Do we
thank God for accidents that never occur,
sicknesses we never have, problems that never
surface? Probably not!
God doesn't
protect us from every difficulty and
hardship, of course, but I'm convinced that
many are turned away from us by His gracious
hand, and we never even know (Malachi
3:11).
They don't
even get close enough for us to worry about
them!
3.
The hard times we encounter
Our
biblical instruction is to give thanks in all
circumstances. (You might also want to read
Romans
5:3-5
and Hebrews
12:7-13).
It is through
the difficulties we face that God perfects
our character, "sanctifies us wholly" (1
Thess. 5:23) and prepares us to reign and
rule with Him. No hardship we experience is
for naught.
"In
all things God works for the good of those
who love Him and are called according to
His purpose" (Romans 8:28).
In God's
hands everything that happens to us becomes
raw material for our
sanctification.
The writer of
Hebrews even goes so far to say that we
should endure the tough stuff as God's
discipline, part of the Lord's training to
equip us for glory!
4.
God's love
Those
of us with grandchildren enjoy blessing them
materially, and we take great pleasure in the
smiles we see on their faces when they
receive our gracious gifts.
But there is
a downside. Children don't naturally
associate the things we give them with our
love for them. Instead, they associate us
with the things -- and expect us to give them
things every time we see them!
As children
mature, parents must teach them (and continue
to remind them) that the gifts aren't the
important thing. They are only the
evidence
of the great
love
a parent or grandparent has for them.
We must learn
that ourselves with regard to God and His
gracious gifts to us. If it weren't for the
fact of God's love, we wouldn't even have
these other things to be thankful
for.
Therefore, we
must consciously and intentionally,
especially in difficult circumstances, give
thanks to God for his love. This will allow
us to get our focus off the problem or
difficulty and get it on the source of the
solution, the victory, or the deliverance we
need: God's love!
At times it
may seem as though God doesn't love us, just
as it seems to our children that we don't
love them when we have to discipline them.
But in Romans 8 Paul makes it clear that
nothing can separate us from God's
love:
"For
I am convinced that neither death nor
life, neither angels nor demons, neither
the present nor the future, nor any
powers, neither height nor depth, nor
anything else in all creation, will be
able to separate us from the love of God
that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans
8:38-39).
Thanks be to
God!
It is true!
There are two things you can always count on:
God loves you and so does the
preacher!
Happy
Thanksgiving! See you in church
Sunday!
