Thanksgiving Grace

Thanksgiving Grace

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RduI0CrSBJA

As I approached today’s message, I really didn’t know what the Lord wanted me to talk about. Thanksgiving is over, but the holiday and what it stands for I just couldn’t get off my mind.

And then, I was inundated in my time with the Lord, putting together the devotionals, thoughts, and prayers that I put out on my social media sites, not to mention this week’s article in the Virgin River Times, and what was coming up was about the giving thanks to the Lord, and strangely enough, it had to do with saying grace.

Isn’t it interesting how we are told to say “grace,” before we eat a meal?

But in truth we’re not saying grace, but instead were giving a blessing. And this is something good, and something that even Jesus demonstrated.

When He fed the 5,000 it says,

“He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes.” (Matthew 14:19 NKJV)

We also see this same thing at the feeding of the 4,000.

Now, that blessing in Judaism, which I believe would be the same today as it was back then, goes like this, “Blessed are thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.” And so, Jesus is thanking His heavenly Father for the provision of food they were about to partake in.

We see this same thing at the Passover meal when he took both the bread and the cup and blessed them.

Saying a blessing can also be seen as the giving of thanks. When the ship taking the Apostle Paul to Rome, and after a vicious storm, they found themselves after 14 days adrift. He then encouraged the Roman guards and crew to eat.

“When he had said these things, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all; and when he had broken it he began to eat.” (Acts 27:35 NKJV)

Today, instead of asking someone to give thanks or say the blessing, we ask them to say grace. And so, grace has come to mean, in this instance, giving thanks to God for all the wonderful gifts He has provided, including the food upon our table.

But, if I can take a short detour, saying grace should be more than giving thanks to God for His provision, rather, it should be for everything He has given to us, because in truth, it all belongs to the Lord in the first place, and therefore it is by His grace we have it to eat.

King David, in Psalm 24 said, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.” (Psalm 24:1)

We see this in the dilemma faced by the Apostle Peter when the Lord gave him a vision of a net filled with unclean animals and commanded him to eat. Peter responded by saying he has never eaten anything that was not permitted in the Law of Moses.

But the Lord replied, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” (Acts 10:15)

The Apostle Paul picked up this theme in his first letter to Timothy.

“For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.” (1 Timothy 4:4-5)

Saying grace before a meal, however, has become more of a ritual than what it was truly meant to do, and that was bringing evidence of God’s grace towards those who are partaking in the meal.

When we “say grace” before a meal we are acknowledging God’s provision, and that everything we have, and everything we’ve been given to eat is from the Lord’s hand of blessing, and how He has given to us everything good, and therefore, everything we have is by the grace of God.

Saying Grace

But let me now take a moment and turn to the word itself, “grace.”

Just to keep the word within its proper perspective, grace is God’s unmerited favor, that is, we receive from God that which we don’t deserve, specifically forgiveness of our sins and eternal life with Him in heaven. This is why the word grace is so heavily attached to our salvation, that is, while death is what we deserve for our sins, in His grace, God gave His Son, Jesus Christ, that whoever believes in Him has eternal life.

Now, God’s grace towards us is best seen in what the Apostle Paul said.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23 NKJV)