F4S: Happy Thanksgiving to You!

Sunday, November 20, 2016

Happy Thanksgiving to You!

Who doesn't love this holiday? 

Thanksgiving is almost here again. Should be an all year long kinda thang. Have you had some good things and bad things, and some apparent-good things and apparent-bad things happen in your life?

Bad Things Do Go Down On This Sin Cursed Planet But We Can Still Find Things To Give Thanks For. So What Did Matthew Henry Say When a Man Stole His Wallet? 

He could have been shot! In thinkin' back on the real bad thing that happened to him, Henry said, "1.) I am thankful that he never robbed me before. 2), I am thankful that although he took my wallet, he did not take my life. 3) Although he took all I had, it was not much. And 4), I am glad that it was I who was robbed, not I who did the robbing." 

Matthew Henry did better than making lemonade out of a lemon. Choose to find something to give thanks for; yes to be grateful for even after a bad experiences regardless of how you feel or who you miss. 

We've all sinned. I know I really deserve worse than what I've gotten. Im' seeking to mature and grow spiritually. And this is how mature people react in tough times. They learn to give thanks in all, not for all circumstances. 

So opt to be grateful even for small blessings. Realize that passivity in this area, that ingratitude toward God is really the first step toward lukewarm relationship, toward spiritually cold, tiward backsliding away from God. 

We see this in Romans 1. The Apostle Paul described the path people take in departing from God. The first step is an attitude of ingratitude. 

Listen up Buckeroo. This is important. The Apostle Paul penned that, "Although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him." 

I've been there before. I can relate not even knowing I sinned via ommission. Ingratitude leads to many inferior choices when good choices could have been made. 

Even for believers, when we take God's' blessings for granted and neglect to give him thanks and praise and pure worship biblically, guess what... we slowly come to have little time for God alone, little time for corporate worship, and little time to help or serve others. That's how we witness with him. 

We can so easily become self-centered instead if Christ-centered. Before we know it, we have slowly wandered far away from God, and we wonder what happened to that glowing red hot love relationship we once enjoyed with God. Let's thank him today, and worship and keep giving thanks to Jesus. Gratitude toward God leads to a higher experience in the Spirit. KnowGod.org