Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
It's Thanksgiving week, and I pray all travelers and those staying home will have a safe and happy holiday. While we should be thankful to others for kind deeds or service they do for us, including our veterans, current military and first responders, the ultimate recipient of our thanksgiving should be God.
Often, when I thank someone, I also thank God for sending him or her into my life, but a real eye opener occurs when I do something for someone else and receive a blessing. I immediately count that as a blessing for entertaining an angel unawares and thank God for the opportunity (Hebrews 13:2).
Original words are translated "thanksgiving" 25 times in the New International Version of the Bible (International Bible Society, 1984; Zondervan Exhaustive Concordance, NIV, 2nd Edition, 1999) where it’s always connected to the recognition of God's greatness, love and mercy toward us in providing life's basic necessities, including life itself and breath, along with sunshine and rain to provide food, clothing and shelter (Acts 17:24-25; Matthew 5:45; 6:25-34). For Christians, those who seek his kingdom and righteousness ahead of everything he provides to everyone, God gives spiritual blessings beyond imagination (Ephesians 1:3-10; 1 Corinthians 2:9-10; 2 Corinthians 12:2-4).
Our response to his love and mercy is replacing our selfish, sinful, worldly nature with thanksgiving, despite any perceived drawbacks (2 Timothy 3:1-5; Ephesians 5:1-4; Romans 6:1-7; 1 Timothy 4:1-4; Hebrews 11:24-27; 2 Corinthians 4:16-18). This and our obedience doing good deeds that also are driven by God's love result in the news of his grace reaching more and more people, causing them also to overflow with thanksgiving expressed through rejoicing (2 Corinthians 4:13-15; 9:12-15; Titus 2:1-14; 3:1-8; Acts 8:26-39).
Thanksgiving as a response to God's grace can be accompanied by any of several expressions of joy in addition to happily doing good (Nehemiah 12: 8, 25, 27, 46). This joy also tends to spawn praise in prayer and song directed toward God as worship (Psalm 69:30; 95:1-7; 100:1-5; 101:1; 147:1-9). Regarding prayer, although God knows beforehand what we need, he still wants to hear about it, telling us to ask thankfully without babbling gushingly because we also should know beforehand he'll provide for all or needs (Matthews 6:7-8; Philippians 4:4-7, 19; 1 Timothy 4:4-5; 1:1-3).
We must be clear about God being the object of our praise for the world's benefit (1 Corinthians 14:16-17). So our daily life should always demonstrate our thankfulness. One of the best examples we can set for our neighbors is regular church attendance (1 Corinthians 10:14-17; Acts 20:7; Hebrews 10:25). The idolatry of finding other things to do while the church is gathered to worship easily negates the benefit of Jesus' death, burial and resurrection for a Christian as well as for his or her non-Christian neighbors (Hebrews 10:26-31; Luke 6:39).
It’s fine to designate a special day as Thanksgiving, but our true thankfulness should be evident all the time. How’s your thanks giving toward God the other 364 days of the year?
Leonard Lauriault is a member of the Church of Christ in Logan who writes about faith for the Quay County Sun. Contact him at [email protected]