Tomorrow Americans will gather with friends and family to enjoy the fellowship they may not get to experience at other times during the year. This is the time at which we take account of how blessed we are. We live in a free country. We have food. We have clothing. We have homes. We have cars. We have computers. We have jobs.
Not everyone is as fortunate. I witness rampant homelessness and hunger all the time. I witness daily the blind eye many Christians take toward those who are in need of assistance. Sure, some may be trying to play the system, but that isn’t our judgment to make. There are others who, while having all the material possessions they need, will find this week difficult because a loved one is no longer with them. Later this morning I will serve at the funeral service of a precious saint who loved the Lord in this life and is loving the Lord face to face right now. His family will celebrate Thanksgiving without him. Yesterday my church distributed Thanksgiving boxes to folks less fortunate than we are; one of the gentlemen with whom I spoke is burying his son today.
I’ve been thinking about what our role in giving thanks is. Is it simply to say, ?Thank you, God?? That’s part of it, but that isn’t enough. As we take stock of all that we have, as we remember that it is God Himself who has given it to us, our only proper response is to offer it back to God in a sacrifice of praise. All of it. Abraham had waited decades to have a son; He never flinched when God asked him to sacrifice Isaac. Moses? mother sacrificed him (in a way) in order to save his life. God sacrificed His own Son. We see many other examples of people who loved God giving up all they had for His glory.
Realizing that what we have was not made possible through our own work but through God’s generous grace will give us pause to be truly thankful in the only way that counts. Offering it all back to God for His glory is the meaning of thanksgiving.
I pray each of you has a blessed Thanksgiving holiday. I’ll take a little break from blogging for the rest of the week.
