I cannot think of a better way to kick off the season of THANKSGIVING than with a message of giving thanks from the Word of God.
Take a moment to contemplate and answer the following three questions:
- Would you describe yourself as a person who spends more time in a posture of THANKSGIVING or a posture of COMPLAINING?
- How would those closest to you answer this question about you?
- If the answer to question #2 does not start with the letter “T” then what changes do you need to make in your life right now so that you may be known by better fruit?
Regardless of your answers, I think we all would agree that we could use a little more of the fruit of THANKSGIVING in our lives and a lot less of the fruit of COMPLAINING! Regardless of how well life is working for us right now we have a tendency to look at what is not working well. This has been the story of God’s people from the beginning. After having been set free from over 400 years of bondage in Egypt, the Israelites were marked more by the fruit of COMPLAINING than THANKSGIVING. You would have thought after having witnessed the hand of God deliver the ten supernatural plagues on Egypt and after marching right on through the Red Sea without ever getting wet, that THANKSGIVING would have risen up to heaven like smoke billowing up from a furnace. However, it was not. Instead of giving thanks they whined, grumbled, and complained every step of the way. In the following verse, the psalmist gives us the cure for COMPLAINING and the key to living a life of continual THANKSGIVING.
Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!
Psalm 107:8
When we focus more on God than we do ourselves, we find that we live in a posture of THANKSGIVING rather than COMPLAINING. Take a moment to think about all that God has done for you. And I am not even talking about the “BIG” things such as redemption, justification, adoption, eternal life, and the like. Think about the eyes that are reading this blog right now. God gave you your sight. Think about the mind that is processing this blog right now. God gave you your mental capacity. Think about the breath you just took or the beating of your heart. God gave you the gift of life. What do you have that you have not been given? Consider, in a sense, that the more you have the more you are in debt to the One who has given it to you. The only thing you have that God did not give to you is your sin. You own all of that!!!
So, as we begin our season of thanksgiving together, let us resolve to be someone who is known by others for a heart of THANKSGIVING rather than a head of COMPLAINING. To be sure, this blog post may not find you in a season of great prosperity. Perhaps sickness and disease are testing the outer edges of your health plan. Maybe this time of year brings back memories of some great loss in your life. This is the result of living in a fallen and broken world with other fallen and broken people. Yet, in all of it you have a God whose love sought you, caught you, and bought you with the precious blood of the Lamb.
Write down today’s verse and put it up somewhere. Put it up on your refrigerator. Put in up on your bathroom mirror. Attach it to the sun visor in your car. Or even better, take some time to memorize it and meditate on it when you lie down, when you get up, and when you walk throughout your day (Deut. 6:7). The more you focus on the steadfast love of God and the wondrous works He has done for you, the more your life will be defined by the fruit of THANKSGIVING rather than COMPLAINING. I promise you this…a little effort now in keeping this verse before you will return multiple rewards not only during this season of thanksgiving, but throughout the rest of your journey toward the Celestial City.
This is the gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT…AMEN!
Grace for the Race 