Thankful

Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.” Colossians 3:14-17

There’s a lot to be thankful for… there truly is! There may be storm clouds building all around us or in our lives and yet can we be grateful. Can we ‘count our blessings, name them one by one…’ as the hymn goes, or are we hurt, bitter, afraid, and fearful of the future. If God’s Word is not in your life then you probably are afraid… and you probably are fearful of an uncertain future… there is a great hope just beyond the veil of God’s perfect timing…

For one we can be thankful that we have access to God’s Word. Millions in the world do not. Number two… we can come together and hold worship services, small group Bible studies, weekly or monthly prayer breakfasts… vast people cannot imagine these freedoms we take for granted. And three you have people who love you, people praying for you, people serving in the Armed Forces all over the world so that you can have the freedom to be thankful or not to be.

Consider, that these folks leave their families and homes and go beyond our boundaries to serve… they serve not an institution, not a piece of paper or cloth on a pole, but a hope… a hope for freedom in where they serve and at home as well. That’s pretty important and very, very special and something very worthwhile to give God thanks for.

Fourthly, we have shelter and food and warmth from the cold. Next we have jobs and good bosses and friends there who care. Or, we have rotten bosses and people who mock our Christianity all the time… thank you for the strength to suffer well…

Number six, seven and so on…, we have health, the ability to see, to hear, and to reason. What then keeps us from being thankful, from giving thanks, from praising God?

Giving thanks is another action of the will. It taking cultivating, it must grow, it must be practiced. It comes from a realization of a need. A need greater than what you on your own can provide. A developing hunger that you’ve realized that nothing in this world can or will satisfy. A longing for more… and finding a satisfaction in our living Lord, the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

For when all has been forgiven… When the emptiness in your soul is filled with love... When a peace prevails in you that you simply cannot fully explain… When you catch a glimpse of your formal life and compare it with what is now… then how can you not be thankful? Will not praise rise from the most sacred place in your heart and move you in word or deed to bless the Most High? Truly, in this season and all the rest we have much to give thanks for!

‘Father, thank you for your love. Thank you for this great salvation that I still do not fully comprehend. Thank you for friends and family, for love and laughter, for sorrow and comfort. Thank you for mercy that reminds me you are not finished with me yet. Thank you for grace that touches me and reminds me also of the forgiveness, the mercy, the care, and the encouraging of others that I’m called to do. Thank you for America, for the troops in harms way, and for their families. Lord, may we give thanks this Thanksgiving for your blessings and the service of others.