To Whom are You Thankful?

Hopefully this week you will be able to gather with family and consume way too many calories! I know at three family meals that we have scheduled, I will definitely be eating too much! As I do, I will almost certainly be able to look around the room and find much to be thankful for, from the food, to the family, to the homes, and cars. Even coming and going from the different relative's homes, I will be able to see the harvested field, herds of cattle, barns of animals, various industries and shops that have helped to make all this bounty possible. In the process, I will be thankful for the many people who have added greatly to my life such as my wife, my kids, my extended family, my friends, my church family, and the various communities that have added so greatly to my life. When people live sacrificially and give to others they deserve our thanks, not just at one time a year, but regularly.

But many blessings in life cannot be tied to a specific person, such as life itself, health, natural beauty, and our own gifts and talents. As a Christian, I know who to thank for these blessing. Many places in the Bible let us know that we should be thankful saying, "Give thanks in all circumstances" (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Other passages let us know to whom we should be thankful saying, "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His love endures forever" (Psalm 107:1). When we reflect upon the world, we see that blessings are all around us every day and that many of the best parts of creation, from the intricacies of a leaf to the smile of a baby, if they are to have any meaning at all must come from somewhere or more specifically someone else. Upon reflection, we can see that, "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). 

What if I do not believe in God or at least do not make God a regular part of my life? Where then do all these blessings come from and to whom should I give thanks? Around this time of year, I often hear people declare that we should be thankful for the good things or that we should live thankful lives. But if they do not know where the blessing comes from, who are they thanking? The universe? The world in general? Nothing? Thankfulness untethered to a deeper reality feels hollow because giving thanks should be tied to a relationship with the person who gave us the blessing. Our conscience tells us that being thankful is the right thing, but if God is not acknowledged as the origin of the blessing then our internal desire to thank someone is left empty. We end up thanking a void, which makes us feel like the emotion itself is meaningless. Conversely, our very desire to give thanks is one of the evidences that there is someone to thank!

Therefore, I encourage you this Thanksgiving time, to yes, pay attention to and even list the many blessings in your life, but also to make sure you spend time reflecting on who gave you those blessings. Pray a prayer of thanksgiving to our good God who gives us all good things.

Learning from the Flood

Luke 12:31 - 32

But seek His kingdom, and these things will be provided for you. Don’t be afraid, little flock, because your Father delights to give you the kingdom.

Recently with all the flooding you may have seen many pictures and videos of all the destruction. Scenes of destroyed houses, roads and bridges washed away, dead livestock, burst grain bins, and fields full of debris are sad and can even lead to a sense of despair or hopelessness because the loss seems so overwhelming.

Rather than despair though, I want to encourage us to to use these hard moments to see what lessons God has for us.

The first lesson as you think about your personal losses or those of people who you know, is to take a moment and examine your own heart. While it is appropriate to feel sad over losing valuable things, if that sadness turns to despair and depression, it may well point to what you really consider valuable. Do you put your hope and trust in God or do you put your hope and trust in the things of this earth? If you lost everything, could you still have peace? What if Jesus asked you to give up everything? Could you do it? He did ask his disciples to do that, and if he is asking you to, could you ?  This may not mean you lose the use of things, but it might. Could you give away your house, your cars, your job, your electronics, your reputation, your everything if Jesus called you to do it? I have a friend going back to Cameroon, Africa and these are the very questions he is asking, because God has called him to a much more dangerous and much less prosperous place. Use this moment to consider if Jesus is really the most valuable thing in your heart.

Second, use this moment to look around you and be thankful for the blessings God has given you right now. One of the reasons that we sometimes get mad at God when He takes something away from us is that we have come to expect it rather than see the world and our very lives as a blessing from Him. Look at your family, your friends, your home, your food, the beauty of the earth, and rejoice in the abundance of God's goodness. Use this moment to thank God for the incredible blessings, both big and small. Start a list and write down one thankful item a day. Every single day you could find something for which to be thankful. If you do this, you will begin to praise the giver of the gifts and not just the gifts themselves.  God loves you and has already blessed you. Learn to praise Him on the sunny days and on the rainy days, in the days of drought, in the days of plenty, and in the days of flood. He is bigger than them all and any day with Him is better than any day with any other thing.

Psalm 84:10 Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere.