Well, we’ve just
celebrated one of my favorite holidays of the year, Thanksgiving. I just
think that we shouldn’t relegate just one day a year to remind us of all that
we have to be thankful for. As Christians, we’re supposed to be people of
gratitude and thankfulness all the time.
As usual, I noticed
several commercials and skits on TV telling us about the origin of this holiday
here in the United States. You know, when the Pilgrims and the Native
Americans got together and shared their bounty in the form of a feast. I
seriously doubt that they had turkey, dressing, giblet gravy and cranberry
sauce though. Probably more like various wild game with some veggies.
The reason I mention
this is because those presenting these bits of history kept referring to it as
the “first Thanksgiving.” I beg to differ with them. I can’t say if
this one is the actual “first” but back in the 12th chapter of Nehemiah we read
where, after completing the building of the wall around Jerusalem, which made
them safe from their enemies, they appointed a day of “gladness” and “thanksgiving” for their
blessings.
If you turn your Bibles
to that chapter you’ll see that it was a day “of
great joy” and that everyone “rejoiced.”
It doesn’t tell us anything about the menu of that day but it does tell us that
they celebrated it by offering
“songs of praise and thanksgiving unto God.”
Let’s return to “our”
day of “Thanksgiving” for a few minutes and some additional thoughts regarding
it. And I mention these because it seems like our nation has been trying
for at least a couple of decades to remove any reference to God from our
national make up. With that in mind, let me remind you of some things
written about this holiday at it’s inception.
It was officially
instituted by declaration by President George Washington in 1789. Look at some
of the things found in this declaration. That it is to be “devoted by the people of these States,
to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author
of all the good that was, that is, or that will be.”
Further, that this day
was to be set aside that we “all
may unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care
and protection of the people of this country.” He then added: “and in general, for all the great and
various favors which He hath been pleased to confer upon us.”
I ask you, does that
sound like anything we might hear today from our government? I can’t
imagine it.
Many other authors,
statesmen and famous people have also penned thoughts about this holiday, but
let’s take the rest of our time and space here to look at what God’s Word says
about “thanksgiving.”
Interestingly, when you research the word in either the Old Testament (Hebrew)
or the New (Greek) you’ll find that it means exactly the same as it means
today. To wit: the
“giving of thanks” for blessings received.
I don’t know if you’ve
ever considered this, but
“thanksgiving” is one of the very few things that carry over from
this earth into heaven. Read with me from Rev. 7:11-12, “And all the angels stood round about
the throne and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne
on their faces, and worshiped God saying, Amen: Blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be unto our God for ever and
ever. Amen.”
Earlier I mentioned that
Christians are supposed to be grateful and thankful people and by that I mean,
every day of the year. Not just on one special occasion such as last
Thursday. It’s this thought that begs the question; how do we maintain
this attitude year round?
Perhaps something we
find written in Psalm 95:2 can help us do this: “Let us come before Him with thanksgiving, and make a
joyful noise unto Him with psalms.” It’s my humble opinion
that we are “before Him”
all the time, therefore we should be “thankful”
all the time.
The apostle Paul
probably gives us the best advice on how to be “thankful” at all times. In Phil. 4:6 he
tells us to be “anxious for
nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let
your requests be made known to God.” Let’s look a little
closer at what God, through the hand of Paul, is saying to us here.
He’s saying, that
instead of “being anxious”
or worrying about things, when we’re praying our prayers, in addition to our “requests” we should be
filled with “thanksgiving”
for all that we’ve been blessed with. If we practice what Paul is telling
us here, added to his words in 1Thess. 5:17 “pray
without ceasing” (never stop praying), that should remind us to
always have a “grateful”
and a “thankful”
heart.
Respectfully submitted,
Ron Covey
No comments:
Post a Comment