“I will bless you . . . and you will be a blessing.” (Genesis 12:2)
This week is we will observe the annual celebration of Thanksgiving Day. This year may feel different from past years; we’ve all endured nine months of the COVID-19 pandemic . . . nine months which have felt like nine years at times. And yet despite all the change and unrest we’ve experienced in 2020, one thing will always remain the same: Thanksgiving is a time not only to pause and count our blessings; it is also a time to pause to make sure our blessings count. Read on and be encouraged today!
To count our blessings is simply to consider the goodness of our God, who gives generously to all His children. From Genesis to Revelation, we see that it is God’s desire to bless, and bless He does. He blesses us with life. He blesses us with liberty. He blesses us with love. And He blesses us with a longing that can only be fully satisfied when we fulfill it through an intimate, personal relationship with Him. It is God’s nature to bless – not because we deserve it or have earned it, but because He is our gracious and loving heavenly Father.
There was, of all things, a “Dennis the Menace” cartoon that painted this picture far better than I can articulate it. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson were next door neighbors to Dennis. One day Dennis and his friend Joey were shown walking out of the Wilson home with as many cookies as they could carry in each hand. Joey wondered what they had done to deserve this cookie blessing, to which Dennis replied “Joey, Mrs. Wilson doesn’t give us cookies because we’re good. We get cookies because Mrs. Wilson is good.” That’s the way it is with our God. He is a good and kind and faithful Father, and He desires to bless His children beyond all that we could ever ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).
But what about the second part of Thanksgiving – making our blessings count? This means that we are blessed to be a blessing to others. We are to live our blessed lives as conduits, not cul-de-sacs. Using the example from Dennis the Menace, if we have been given a fistful of “cookie blessings” from God, we are to promptly share some of them with others.
So, as you move into this Thanksgiving week, I hope you will take a moment to consider just how blessed you truly are. Then prayerfully consider how you can make your blessings count as your put your blessings into circulation for the glory of God and the good of others.
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 