Our Month of Thanksgiving
There are two ways to approach this thanksgiving month: We can say with a question, “This month, a time to be thankful?”; Or we can approach this month declaring, “This month, a time to be thankful!”
It’s like this: In Budapest, a man goes to the rabbi and complains, “Life is unbearable. There are nine of us living in one room. What can I do?” The rabbi answers, “Take your goat into the room with you.” The man in incredulous, but the rabbi insists. “Do as I say and come back in a week.” A week later the man comes back looking more distraught than before. “We cannot stand it,” he tells the rabbi. “The goat is filthy.” The rabbi then tells him, “Go home and let the goat out. And come back in a week.” A radiant man returns to the rabbi a week later, exclaiming, “Life is beautiful. We enjoy every minute of it now that there’s no goat — only the nine of us.”
As the story illustrates, Thanksgiving is a matter of perspective. It’s an attitude of the heart that sees the good in life even when there could be reasons to complain. I love the verse Paul gives in Philippians, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8). There’s a lot that is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, praiseworthy in our lives. It’s our place to “think about such things.”
The old time preacher D.L. Moody was once reading aloud the 103rd Psalm, and came to the verse, “Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” (Psalm 103:2). He stopped at the verse and said to the people, “You can’t remember all his benefits, of course, but don’t forget them all. Remember some of them.”
We can’t remember all the many blessings God gives because we don’t even know all the blessings He gives. But the key is to remember some of them
and be thankful for the ones that come to our minds. May our attitude this month be one of thanks from whom all blessings flow. May this be our experience – remembering more and more the blessing He gives.
In the book of James we read how the good gifts of life are God gifts. “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights.” (James 1:17) Whenever we are blessed by the good gifts of life, it’s for us to ‘look up’ and remember it’s God who is giving it.
I read somewhere that the worst season of the year for an Atheist is the Thanksgiving season. It’s a frustrating time of the year because there isn’t anyone to really thank for the good things of life. G.K. Chesterton wrote, “The worst moment for an atheist is when he is really thankful and has no one to thank.”
Imagine an Atheist sitting down for a Thanksgiving feast and in the spirit of the season he’s wanting to be thankful. Life has been good to him. Many blessings have come his way. As he digs into the feast and ponders his blessings, who does he thank? The turkey? Mr. Potato? The person who prepared the food? His boss who gave him a job? His body for being healthy? He can be thankful for his family, his friends, and his country among other things. But who gave him these blessings? A person without God to thank can only give thanks for the gift and those who have delivered the gifts. What he doesn’t have is Someone to thank who is behind all the good gifts he is blessed with. As believers, we know there is Someone behind the gift and beyond the one delivering the gift. The source of all good gifts is God as “Every good and perfect gift is from above.”
This month, let our thanksgiving be raised above to the place from whom all blessings flow.
Pastor Mark
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