I love thanksgiving and the holidays. They are such a great time to thank God for His blessings and all that He has blessed us with. But I see that in my life I tend to forget to thank God consistently. I have to be honest, it simply slips my mind all the time.
Yesterday morning I was moderating a prayer-line that consists of children from the ages of 8 to 13. In the first few minuets we were talking, and the subject of Thanksgiving came up. One of the children pointed out how ironic it was that the one day in the year nationally dedicated to giving thanks is immediately followed by the biggest selling day, black Friday, in the whole year! Both events almost cancel out themselves. I found it rather funny that right after we give thanks for what we have we go shopping! It is interesting to point out that being completely content means not wanting anything that we don't need.
Last Sunday my pastor shared a sermon about thanks giving. He shared the verse found in Romans 1:21. Between verses 20 and 32 we see that Paul shares a systematic moral decline of a nation. In other words, it shows us how a nation comes to forget and eventually reject God. I think it is shocking how the first thing that Paul mentions is how "they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him."
Here are verses from Romans 21-23:
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
That is truly shocking! It kind of describes America, Canada and even Europe. Look at it. "They," talking about humanity, forgot to give thanks, and then all those horrible things followed soon after!
When you place the biggest buying day of the year right after the thanksgiving day it doesn't show true thankfulness, does it?
My pastor also shared how this not only reflects the decline of a nation, but of a single person. When someone begins to stop glorifying God and giving thanks to Him, then all the other areas of this persons life begin to collapse.
It is hard to come to this conclusion, but we forget to give thanks to God because we don't see its importance. I NEVER forget to take a shower. :P That is how much importance I give to it! I am sure others would agree with me, but how easy it is to forget to give thanks. If you forget it doesn't mean that you are not thankful, but it does mean that we need to get in the habit of doing so as soon as possible.
Let's not make this Thanksgiving another single day of thanksgiving and festivities followed by a rowdy day of scrambling to buy everything we want. Lets remember to give thanks everyday, and not want something everyday.
-Jerry
I totally agree. Do you think that sometimes thanking God can slip into a routine though? I've caught myself saying grace before a meal automatically but not really paying attention to what I was saying. It was just words. A big part of being thankful is a conscious decision to be thankful to Him for everything. After all, "every good and perfect gift is from above."
ReplyDeleteThank you Jerry, this post is excellent! You are totally right. How easy is to get involved in the currents of this world and get our sight off the things that really matter. None of the stuff we get here will be with us in the eternity. Besides, as the Bible says, our life here is as short as a passing shadow.
ReplyDeleteI've caught myself in the currents of this world many times, forgetting about the important things, the eternal things. I need to pray every day for wisdom... Psalm 90:12 says: So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.