Devotional Thought - Thanksgiving

"In every thing give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." - I Thessalonians 5:18

This is the time of year that we as Christians set aside a day of thanksgiving to our Lord. I think this is great and Thanksgiving, as a holiday, is one of my favorites. At our church, our teacher has encouraged us to write down a list of things we are thankful for. Again, this is well and good, and I proceeded to write down many things in a little notebook that I have been keeping.

And then I thought, "Lord, am I really thankful for these things?" I wondered if maybe, just maybe, I was writing down a bunch of things that I SHOULD be thankful for but not necessarily things I was truly grateful for.



Furthermore I also realized that there are many things that I say that I am "blessed" with that many non-Christians would also consider themselves blessed with (for instance, food, clothing, shelter, family, etc.) What separates me from the world, or any pagan thanking his own pagan god for his blessings?   As a matter of fact many pagans are even more blessed than myself in the material realm. Also many Christians seems to get tears in their eyes and a tremor in their voice when they talk about all the "blessings" (ie.-money and material things) that God has provided them. I am afraid that if that is as far as it goes, many people including myself must be very disappointing to the Lord. We look to the blessings instead of the blesser.

And that realization was the key that unlocked my thankfulness. I am no better than any lost person, or pagan, or worldly Christian. I am no more deserving of anything that I am or have or will have or be than the worst sinner on the planet. I truly deserve, as the old time preacher says, "to be in hell with my back broke." Yet, Christ died for me and as Galatians 2:20 says, "and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."  I am truly grateful that the God of heaven, in all his holiness, would consider the condition of a wretched man like me, take on a robe of flesh, and shed his innocent blood so that my sins would be forgiven -  not through any ability or work of mine. Thank you Jesus!

So this Thanksgiving season I just want to say that no matter what other blessing that I have or don't have, I am thankful for HIM. I leave you with the words of King David:

Psalm 8

                          O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.

  Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.

 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:

 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;

 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.

 O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!