From: Ben Kelley
Subject: Thanks-giving?
Today is the last Thursday in November, the day
we Americans celebrate and call "Thanksgiving." It was officially set
aside as a holiday for us in 1941, but had actually been celebrated in
our country many times since President George Washington proclaimed
national recognition in 1789. It began as a day for all of
our peoples, both individually and corporately, to stop and give the
credit for our many blessings to The One to Whom it is actually due, Almighty
God. Canada officially set aside a similar national holiday, a 3 day
weekend, in 1951. Many other countries have a tradition of the same
sort. This happens because deep down inside, we all recognize we
didn't "just happen", and our blessings don't spring out of ourselves,
despite what the evolutionists may try to push off on us. (I know they
recognize it too, they just don't want to be accountable to God, as a few of
their more honest ones have confessed)
The problem is, we have become people who don't
stop and "count our blessings, naming them one by one," as the old hymn suggests
we do. Instead, we take them for granted as if we are rightfully due
them. We are not; we are due God's wrath, for we all are unworthy sinners,
even though we don't like to admit it. No, we do not thank Him as we
should, instead, we have begun to say "thank you" to God in the wrong way,
although we seldom do it aloud. When bad things occur in our lives, we
often harbor the unspoken thought of, "thanks a lot, God, for letting that
happen to me! You could have stopped it, but You didn't." We know,
down deep, that God is all powerful and all knowing, but we have a hard time
truly believing that HE knows what HE's doing. It's hard for us in this
day of "priviledge" and "rights" to accept
that we are all unworthy sinners deserving of an eternity in
Hell, but we are. I like the thought spoken by Charles Spurgeon, from the
pulpit of the London's Metropolitan Tabernacle, way back in the middle of the
1800's. Spurgeon said, "everything short of Hell itself is
mercy." He also said, "he that deserves nothing should be
content with anything", and I add, should be thankful in
everything. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of
God in Christ Jesus concerning you. (1 Thessalonians
5:18)
Let us not be guilty of withholding the giving
of thanks to Him Who has given us the breath of life and the offer, which we
have accepted, of eternal life through Jesus our Lord and Savior. Let us begin
to make every day a day of thanks-giving. Let us thank God from Whom
all our blessings flow. While we are at it, let us begin to say "thank
you" more often to those around, adopting an "attitude of
gratitude.
Thank you for taking the time
to read and consider this!
Ben
Count your blessings
(Press button to hear music for song)
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