I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving… It has always been so strange to me how Thanksgiving has changed since its original conception—even from when I was a kid. For instance, how ironic is it that the very day after Thanksgiving just happens to be the biggest shopping day of the year! Think about it; one day, we are sitting around a table surrounded with family and friends, our hearts overflowing with thanksgiving for all the ways that God has blessed us.. and then, before the sun fully rises the next morning, we are driving like maniacs to the best sales so we can fight our brothers and sisters tooth and nail for a greatly discounted television or sweater! It is amazing how quickly the attitude of thanksgiving can give way to unadulterated greed! I, for one, don’t think that it is merely a coincidence that Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving. You see, our greatest enemy knows how powerful an attitude of thanksgiving is in the Christian life. The devil doesn’t want us to dwell on how blessed we are—and he certainly doesn’t want us to remember Who blessed us! I can almost hear Satan saying, “go on and have your day of thanksgiving—but that’s it, only one day and then its back to business as usual where pride and selfishness rule the hearts of men. You see, he knows that one day of thankfulness won’
Charles Dickens once said that we are somewhat mixed up here in America. He told an audience that “instead of having one Thanksgiving Day each year we should have 364 “days of thanksgiving.” Use that one day just for complaining and griping,” he said. “Use the other 364 days to thank God for the many blessings He has showered upon you.”
As Dickens suggested, we should not wait for a special holiday to express our gratitude to God. Instead, thanksgiving should be a part of our daily lives. In fact the bible is very clear that thanksgiving is perhaps one of the most vital characteristics of any child of God. And there’s good reason for that. Look with me if you will at Romans 1:18-25. (READ)
Just as the Apostle Paul is indicating here, countless people who once “knew God” or had a relationship with Christ will be ultimately lost in large part because of a lack of thanksgiving. Today we are going to see what the bible has to say about the importance of thanksgiving in the Christian life and learn how we can cultivate this essential mindset that many refer to as “an attitude of gratitude.”
As we just read, failing to glorify and give thanks to God for all He has created can cause our “hearts to be darkened.” For the life of me, I can’t understand evolutionists, or people who believe in the Big Bang Theory. How can anyone behold this unbelievably beautiful planet and see the creatures that share it with us and then say, there is no God!
I can’t tell you how many times that I personally have seen something in nature whether it be a magnificent sunset, a starry sky, bird, flower or even just an ant and just stop in my tracks and say in my heart, praise you Lord! I have witnessed so many indescribable sunsets—you know, the kind that would be impossible for any artist to reproduce, and I find myself thanking God and saying, Lord you didn’t have to do this! But He did—why? Because He is expressing Himself and His love to us not just in the heavens but in so many breathtaking ways—yet we tend to take these wonderful revelations of God’s character and love for granted each and every day!
Turn with me to Psalms 19:1-4 (READ).
I don’t know about you friends, but I’ve been blessed so many times to hear that voice that David is talking about. I love sitting out on a clear cold night when the stars are so vivid and bright just staring into infinity contemplating God’s love and awesome power. When I have the opportunity to behold scenes like that, I can’t help but to be humbled and praise the Lord right then and thank Him for all that He has created for us.
I remember many nights when Tammy, Meagan and I have sat out in the freezing cold early morning hours about to freeze to death just waiting to catch a glimpse of a falling star.
It’s very sad but the majority of people today simply don’t take the time to just behold what God has created both for our enjoyment and as a way of expressing Himself to us. The truth is that He has created so many beautiful and awesome things that we tend to take them for granted without giving it a second look or thought! But, what if the stars came out only once every five years? Or even once a year? I’ll bet that just about everyone would stay up nearly all night “ooing and ahing.”
Psalm 8:3-5 says,
“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? 5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.”
You may not have ever considered it, but the purpose of the Sabbath itself is to call our attention to the beautiful things that God has created for our enjoyment—identifying Him as Creator…Take the time to “stop and smell the roses” and when you do, don’t forget to whisper a prayer praising and thanking God.
To me, being thankful and praising God for nature comes naturally—almost involuntarily actually, but the next area of life in which we should be thankful to God doesn’t, at times, seem to come quite as easily to me.
Paul says this in his letter to the Philippian believers in chapter 4, “ I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” You see, it’s Paul’s attitude of constant thanksgiving through Jesus Christ that enables him to content whether he is living in plenty or in want…
I’m not asking for a show of hands, but how many of us can honestly say that we are “content” with our station in life? We have plenty of money and material possessions and basically want for nothing? The fact is that very few Americans are content with their financial situation. This is a major problem because it tends to be an area in our life where we withhold thanksgiving to God because we feel like He could do better in that department for us. In fact some people, not content with their lifestyle, actually withhold God’s tithe with the mentality, well God if you would bless me more financially, then I would be able to return a tithe.
Well, I have done quite a bit of research, trying to find a reason for this lack of contentment among Americans today, and you will be happy to know that I have actually discovered who is responsible. It turned out to be not one individual but an entire family and they live not far from you—they call themselves the “Joneses” You know them don’t you? They are the family that has everything that you don’t have but want.
We find it extremely difficult to be content—much less thankful when the Joneses seem to have so much more than we do! So often I catch myself poor-mouthing and complaining that I just don’t have any money… But then I see or hear something that makes me feel so ashamed and I find myself apologizing to God because I realize that I am a very blessed man! When I think of all the people around the world who don’t have a roof over their heads, decent clothes on their backs, shoes on their feet and then go to sleep on a pile of rags or mound of straw without eating the entire day! When I consider how many mothers have their children die in their arms of hunger and can’t do a thing about it. I feel so terrible for the greed and ingratitude in my heart. But then, in only a matter of days, because someone else has a nicer house or more toys than I do, I have the nerve to whine and complain yet again!! God forgive us!
The problem is that we are too rich in this country—even in the middle of this economic crisis we have so much. The fact is that if we don’t have the best of everything, we tend not to acknowledge or appreciate what we do have. Don’t allow Satan to lure you into the trap of discontentment. Think about it, isn’t that basically what happened to Lucifer? He wasn’t content with his position—he wanted to raise his throne above the throne of God!
Somehow we have lost touch with the Scripture that says: “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you’” (Hebrews 13:5). When you have God, you have it all. Greed is simply the desire to always have more. Greed is never satisfied. It is a treadmill that never lets you off.
Paul warned Timothy with these words, “People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1 Timothy 6:9-10). To summarize: greed kills gratitude and a lack of gratitude is a mighty weapon that Satan will use to destroy your relationship with God.
Deuteronomy 8:10-18 (READ)
Paul wisely said, “But godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6). In fact, I would say that godliness cannot exist without contentment. Greed is the opposite of contentment. It is the refusal to be satisfied. Greed is always focused on what you don’t have rather than the blessings you do have.
You know, speaking of the blessings in our lives that we tend to take for granted…what about the people that God has placed in our lives? It’s a shame that we tend not to truly value a person until they are no longer with us and then for some reason, we remember all the ways that person loved us and blessed us and we find ourselves wishing that we could have just a few more moments with them to let them know how much we love and appreciate them. Besides Jesus and the gift of salvation, people are the greatest blessing that God gives us. Be ever thankful for your family, your friends and your church family. (Parents getting a divorce..)
We need to learn to be thankful not only for our material possessions and people that God has blessed us with, but in all the different areas of our lives. In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Paul says, “Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
One young lady wrote home from college,
"Dear Mom: Sorry I haven’t written sooner. My arm really has been broken. I broke it, and my left leg, when I jumped from the second floor of my dorm the night of the fire. We were lucky. A young service station attendant saw the blaze and called the Fire Department. They were there in a matter of minutes. I was in the hospital for a few days. Paul, the service station attendant, came to see me every day. And because it was taking so long to get our dorm livable again, I moved in with him. He has been so nice to me. I’m excited to tell you are going to be a grandmother because I am pregnant. Paul and I plan to get married just as soon as he can get a divorce. I hope things are fine at home. I’m doing well here, and will write more when I get the chance. Love, Your daughter, Wendy
P.S. None of the above is true. But I did get a "C" in Sociology and flunked Chemistry. I just wanted you to receive this news in its "Proper Perspective!"
In order to cultivate a thankful heart, it is essential that we see our situation from the proper perspective. Paul says that we should give thanks in ALL circumstances. The only way we can do that is to see life and especially the struggles in life the same way Paul saw them:
Romans 8:18 "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us..."
2 Cor 12:10 “That is why for Christ’s sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecution, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong..."
Phil 1:12 "Now I want you to know brothers that what has happened to me has really served to advance the Gospel..."
Now keep in mind that these statements are coming from a man who was beaten multiple times, betrayed by his friends, stoned and left for dead, shipwrecked, bitten by a venomous snake, imprisoned, attacked by a mob, blinded by the light, and suffered from what he called the thorn in his flesh! By the way, all these things happened in his life AFTER he met Jesus! And when I think about how difficult Paul’s life turned out to be—even down to his death for Christ I am reminded of how Jesus told Ananias just after Paul’s conversion, “I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” And suffer he did indeed—but he had the right perspective in all of his sufferings.
Listen to what Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:8, 16-18)
“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed but not in despair; persecuted but not abandoned; struck down but not destroyed. . . vs 16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal”
I don’t know what kind of struggles or hardships you might be facing right now but I can tell you that none of your problems are bigger or more powerful than God or the love He has for you. Despite your circumstances, I urge you to heed the advice of the apostle Paul and find cause to be thankful.
Henry Frost served for many years as a missionary to China. He wrote in his journal of a very difficult time in his life. He wrote,
"I had received sad news from home, and deep shadows had covered my soul. I prayed BUT the darkness did not vanish. I summoned myself to endure, BUT the darkness only deepened. Then one day I went to an inland station and saw on the wall of the mission home these words: ’TRY THANKSGIVING.’ I did, and in a moment every shadow was gone, not to return.
Yes the Psalmist was right, ’It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord."
Count your blessings. Show God by your actions that you are thankful for how He has worked in your life—for all of the ways He has poured out blessing upon blessing. If you are especially blessed financially, give generously to those who are not. If you are blessed with good health, be compassionate with those who may not be so blessed. If you are overjoyed with the saving relationship you currently have with Jesus, introduce Him to someone who doesn’t know Him! The best way to thank God for the blessings in your life is simply to BE a blessing.
(Philippians 4:6-8). “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things”
Again, Paul counsels us to “give thanks in all circumstances.” Being anxious or worried will not prevent disaster in your life.. it actually invites it in. As I look at this congregation, I’m looking at some unbelievably blessed people. Granted, different ones are blessed more so in different areas than others but one thing I hope we all have in common is that we all are blessed with the assurance of the return of Jesus Christ. And when He returns, we are told, “…the old order of things will pass away and God has promised that He will make ALL things new!
Close with Colossians 3:15-17
