The Mother immediately said, “What do you say to the nice man who gave you a piece of candy?” The little boy seemed somewhat puzzled as to what she was wanting him to say, but suddenly a smile came on his face, as if he finally realized what she wanted him to say, and he said, “Can I have more!”
The way this little child reacted to the kindness of the man, seems to be a reaction today that we often see in our society.
We live in a society that is truly ungrateful.
For example, we have politicians that are shrewd enough to recognize this.
These politicians will give about anything that is asked of them, to certain segments of our society.
Why? Because these politicians know, that this is the crowd that goes to the polls and will vote for them. Not because they are qualified for the job they hold, but because these politicians give them what they want.
The politicians become the good guys, and the hard working tax-payers, who do not want to give their hard earned tax money to these people, become the bad guys.
Instead, we are branded as insensitive people who do not care about the needs of others.
That is, we have many in this society who are holding out their hands, and they will take anything and everything that you will put in them.
The least they could do is on “Thanksgiving Day” send all the hard working taxpayers a THANK YOU NOTE.
But this is something we taxpayers will never receive.
We live in a society that fails to show gratitude.
This society feels that everyone owes them something, and so when they receive what is “owed” to them, why should they be thankful.
But there are so many things we should be thankful for, such as, we should-
I. BE THANKFUL FOR OUR FAITH
It is our faith in God that makes us become great men and women of God.
Hebrews chapter 11 is known as the FAITH CHAPTER. But every one of these great men and women listed in this chapter, are listed there because of their FAITH in the God of this Bible.
WHAT DOES OUR FAITH DO FOR US?
Many things, but let me show you three things. Our faith is-
1. A CHANGING FAITH
That is, when we accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, we became a NEW CREATURE in Christ Jesus.
Look at v. 17, we read, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
That does not mean that we became perfect, but it does mean our faith in Christ changed us, and immediately in our lives, “…old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
The sinful things we once enjoyed, we no longer enjoy. And the things we didn’t enjoy, all of a sudden we now enjoy.
We are now a NEW CREATURE in Christ Jesus. But all this occurred in our life because of our FAITH IN CHRIST.
We should be THANKFUL FOR OUR FAITH. It is truly A CHANGING FAITH.
But also, we should be thankful for our faith because it is-
2. A CHARTING FAITH
Our faith not only has CHANGED OUR LIFE, it also CHARTS OUR LIFE.
The reason today that so many have messed their lives up, is because they do not have a faith to CHART which way they are to go through life.
Because of that, many:
• Go through life guessing, hoping they are doing the right thing.
• Go through life doing what everyone else is doing.
• Go through life depending on fortune tellers to tell them what they should do.
• Go through life listening to the advice of people who are as confused as they are.
But in actuality, what they do is go through life making one big mistake after the other.
But, we have a faith that is based on the Word of God, and it charts out the direction we should go, in every area of our lives.
We should be thankful for a faith that CHARTS.
But also, we have-
3. A CHALLENGING FAITH
One thing that thrills people about sports, is the challenge it provides.
For example, many enter the field of sports and they do things they never dreamed they would be able to do.
But the most challenging thing on the face of the earth is our faith.
• There are people who are so bashful they would never speak before a class, but now they are preaching before thousands.
• There are people who would never pray in public, but now they pray frequently in public.
• There are people who have never been leaders, but now they are leading and teaching a Sunday School class.
• There are people who never won anyone to Christ, but now their faith has been challenged, and they are winning hundreds to the Lord Jesus.
We have A CHALLENGING FAITH.
We should be thankful unto the Lord for OUR FAITH.
But also, we should -
II. BE THANKFUL FOR OUR FRIENDS
An old Puritan, Charles Bridges, said, “If you have found one friend in a lifetime, you have found a great treasure.”
We all have lots of acquaintances, but we do not have lots of friends.
I wish it was true that we all could say we have lots of friends.
WHY DO I SAY THAT?
Look at Proverbs 17:17. We read, “A friend loveth at all times..”
There are people who we call our friends, and as long as things go the way they like for them to go, they will be our friends. But the moment that things do not go the way they like for them to go, they will become the worst enemies that we have.
There are some folks that we call “Sunshine Friends”. That is, when the sun is shining and things are going great, they are right there beside you. But when the dark clouds hang over our life, they will abandon us like a rat on a sinking ship.
But some of us have TRUE FRIENDS. The Bible says “A friend loveth at all times….” Prov. 17:17
We should be thankful unto the Lord for our TRUE FRIENDS!
Also, we should -
III. BE THANKFUL FOR OUR FOES
Preacher, I am thankful for my FAITH, and for my FRIENDS, but I could never be thankful for my FOES.
Well, did you know that our foes can keep us sharp, and on our toes?
Illus: When a boxer is training to become a great boxer, the worst thing he can do is to box with someone who is under him, when it comes to the level of skill.
For example, if he is boxing with someone who is under him, he will get careless, and drop his guard. But when he is boxing with someone with greater skill, he knows he cannot get careless and drop his guard, because his opposition will take full advantage of him.
The same thing goes for us as believers. If we were constantly surrounded by friends who love us and forgive us for our short-comings, we would lower our guard. But we know our enemies are looking for a chance to take advantage of us. We cannot and must not drop our guard.
We tend to seek God and draw close to Him, when we are surrounded by our enemies.
We should be thankful unto the Lord for our FOES.
Also, we should-
IV. BE THANKFUL FOR OUR FAMILY
The one thing in life that we take for granted more than anything else, is our family.
One of the saddest things in this life, is to be at the funeral home, with a family standing beside the casket of a loved one, and family members crying-
• “I never told them I loved them.”
• “I never hugged them.”
• “I was always to busy to visit them.”
This is one of the saddest things that can happen.
But there is one thing even worse than this, and that is a person who stands beside the casket of a loved one asking for forgiveness, knowing that loved one cannot hear them.
• If you are going to show love to a loved one, the time to do it is while they are living.
• If you are going to visit a loved one, the time to do it is while they are alive, because it does them no good when you stand beside that grave.
• If you are going to say nice things to a loved one, the time to do it is while they can hear you.
We should be thankful unto the Lord for our FAMILIES, because there will be a day we will not have them to enjoy.
And then all of a sudden, those things that you always considered to be so important, will no longer be important. You will recognize how foolish you have been, to put those things before your family.
We should be thankful for OUR FAMILIES.
Also, we should-
V. BE THANKFUL FOR OUR FORTRESS
In Psalms 91:2, we read, “I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.”
David is saying, “I know one thing, I know the Lord, HE IS MY REFUGE and my FORTRESS….”
• When some people have a problem, they run to the liquor store.
• When some people have a problem, they run to the medicine cabinet to grab a pill.
But David said, “God is:
• MY REFUGE.
• MY FORTRESS.
• MY GOD,
• IN HIM WILL I TRUST. “
We have so much to be thankful for.
II Samuel 22:50 describes my feelings of thankfulness. It says, “Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, 0 LORD, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name."
I. BE THANKFUL FOR OUR FAITH
II. BE THANKFUL FOR OUR FRIENDS
III. BE THANKFUL FOR OUR FOES
IV. BE THANKFUL FOR OUR FAMILIES
V. BE THANKFUL FOR OUR FORTRESS
