Thanksgiving

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Scripture: Psalm 50:14-15

14  Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,

and perform your vows to the Most High,

15    and call upon me in the day of trouble;

I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” [1]



Devotion:

            It’s almost Thanksgiving. Tomorrow most of us will eat too much turkey, stuffing, and all the rest. But are we really grateful for all this abundance of food and family? Who are we thankful to? Does God really figure into our Thanksgiving? Or is it a day to strategize our black Friday shopping. Will we be figuring out where to get that latest tech gadget for the cheapest price?

            Will we be like the 9 of the 10 lepers who were healed by Jesus and go on our merry way, or will we be like the one who returned to give thanks to Jesus. God gives us so many gifts that it is impossible to name them all. How can we possibly thank God enough for all the good gifts we are given? We should each give thanks for our health, food, and our very lives. Each breath we take is a gift from God. We too often give little attention to the gifts we receive from the hand of God. Preferring to think that we earned or deserved those gifts. But as the scripture says, “God makes it rain on the just and unjust.” All things are a gift from God, and we should be thankful for them. As Paul says in Colossians below.

            “6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.[2]” If we have received Jesus Christ as Lord of our lives we must walk in him with faith, right teaching, and much thanksgiving. Let us then walk in the light of Christ giving thanks more and more as we continue to be blessed by the Lord.

            Thanksgiving day will soon be upon us. Let us prepare our hearts for giving thanks. Maybe write a list of all the things we are thankful for this last year. Don’t forget those who have helped you this past year. I know personally I received help from Doctors and Nurses when I was ill. I received help from church members who provided meals when I was sick. I received blessings from my family that I will never be able to repay. Most of all I received the gift of grace from God without which I wouldn’t be here today.

            Let us all take stock of all the good gifts we have received from the hands of God and our neighbors. Let us give unreserved thanks and praise to God for these gifts. May we adopt a posture of Thanksliving so that all of our lives everyday may be a time of thankfulness not just one day out of the year. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who read this you are a real blessing to me.

           




[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ps 50:14–15.
[2] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Col 2:6–7.

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