The Thanksgiving List

Intro

Is there one thing that we can do in under and hour that gives a longer lasting and better quality lift for positive mental health than any drug? What about writing a list of things that we are thankful for?

Purpose

Let’s be thankful to God for each and every day, because we never know what tomorrow may bring.

Plan

Let’s look at Luke 12:15-21 and a man who planned a life of ease but forgot God.

Luke 12:15 Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.”

16 Then he told them a story: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. 17 He said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’ 18 Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods. 19 And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’

20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’ 21 “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Thankful for Today

If tomorrow was our last day, how would our prayers change? How thankful would we be for our lives? What would be on a list of the good things a spouse or even former divorced spouse did for us? What good things did our parents do? What things are we thankful for in our children? As we pass through this life, we also meet many people. Some relationships are just a moment, and others are lifelong. Are we thankful for the benefits that each relationship brings to us? Material things are not forever. A house, car, land, vacation property, and other things are only temporary possessions. Are we thankful for God allowing us temporary use of these things of his?

Thankful for Good Government

The Bible often describes government leaders in negative terms as shepherds who fail completely, leading the people astray, and as selfish while others starve (Jeremiah 10:21; Jeremiah 50:6; Ezekiel 34:8). But human government has also done a lot of good for each one of us. Are we thankful for the good the government does? Government provides roads, schools, satellites, stadiums, defense, retirement, water treatment, sewage, trash disposal, research, ports, communications, mail, energy, disease control, health, consumer protection, clean air and water, work safety, weather services, unemployment, helps the poor, sick, elderly, provides police, scholarships, soil conservation, libraries, building codes, etc. Perfect human government is impossible, but God supports good government and so should we (Romans 13:1-7).

Thankful for God

Are we thankful that God is gentle, loving, kind, compassionate, faithful, forgiving, good, just, life itself, inhabits eternity, is unchanging, holy, righteous, just, truthful, immanent, transcendent, and 3 in One?

Are we thankful that Jesus is the Lord, God of the Hebrew Scriptures, God with us, the angels are his angels, he judges the world, he is both human and divine, born of a virgin, and died for our sins?

Are we thankful that the Holy Spirit teaches, guides us into all truth, reveals Jesus, convicts of sin, seals believers, is a person, is God, Comforter and the “Spirit of Christ”?

Are we thankful that the holy Angels are God's servants, ministering spirits serving the heirs of salvation, rejoicing in the salvation of believers, serving, protecting, encouraging and relaying God’s will to us?

Are we thankful that humans were created in the likeness of God with a similar but limited ability to reason, ruling over the earth, created to have a relationship with God?

Are we thankful that sins ranging from simply missing the mark to abject moral evil can be forgiven in Christ Jesus?

Are we thankful that God is revealed in the Bible, in creation, in Jesus Christ and other special ways?

Are we thankful that salvation from God means being saved from sickness and calamity today as well as for eternity, and that salvation is open to all people of the world?

Are we thankful that Jesus established his church as an assembly of Christians, as the body of Christ, a family, a vine and branches, the pillar and ground of the truth, a living temple that grows, a holy temple in which God dwells, a holy nation, a royal priesthood, living stones around the cornerstone, with the salt and light of good deeds? Are we thankful that church gatherings are places to be strengthened in faith, to be spiritually fed, a place for prophecy or inspired preaching, a place for collections for the saints, to learn of God’s wisdom, to get spiritually cleansed, to sing God’s praises, and a place to be healed?