Thanksgiving!
Giving God Thanks For All He Has Done, Does, And Will Do For Us!
Giving God Thanks For All He Has Done, Does, And Will Do For Us!
Ephesians 5:20
“Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
What do you think of when you think “Thanksgiving”? Do you think of turkey, pies, and family parties? Well…..I have to admit, those are what I think of, although those aren’t the only things.
Have you ever had a time when you were not as thankful as you should have been? It isn’t too late to go back and correct it!
One of my favorite books of the Bible is Esther (you should all go and read it!). In the story, it tells of Esther’s cousin Mordecai, who took care of Esther since her parents were dead. Mordecai would sit in the gate, listening to the news from the palace, and the rest of the city.
One day he found out that two of the kings servants wanted to kill the king. Mordecai told Queen Esther who in turn told the king, and it was taken care of.
Soon after this, the king promoted a certain prince, Haman, above all the other princes of the kingdom. All the others people of the kingdom were supposed to bow to Haman, but Mordecai, who knew that we should never bow to anyone but the one true God, didn’t bow. Haman was furious! In fact, he was so furious, he talked it over with his wife, and she advised him to ask the king to kill Mordecai.
But, that night, the king could not sleep. Now the king, he didn’t count sheep, or watch late night television. Instead, he had his servants stay up and read him the records. They read him the story of how Mordecai had reported those two men and saved the king from death. King A-has-u-e’rus asked, “What was done for Mordecai, to thank him?” The servants answered, “Nothing!”
The next morning Haman came into the palace, and the king called him saying, “What should be done to the man whom the king wishes to honor?” Haman was so vain, he thought, “Who could the king wish to honor besides ME!” So he said, “Well…he should wear the king’s own clothes, and have the king’s own crown on his head, and ride on the king’s own horse, having one of the highest princes of the kingdom lead the horse through the city crying before him, ‘This is what will be done to him who the king wishes to honor!’” The king said, “Great! Go do just what you have said to Mordecai, the Jew.”
Haman was horrified! He went to Mordecai and did as the king command, because the king’s word was the king’s word, but he wasn’t happy!*
The story goes on of course, but that is the part I wanted to tell you. I think it is interesting how the king forgot to be thankful, but as soon as he remembered, he went and made it right! Now think, is that what you do, or do you just forget again? How often do you thank your Mom, for instance? I bet you could count off a half dozen things she does for you every day, but how often are you thankful for them? I want to challenge you to be thankful to everyone, for everything, all the time! After all, that is what the Bible tells us to do! Eph. 5:20 says, “Giving thanks always, for all things unto God and the Father in the name of Jesus Christ.”
Being thankful might be more important than you think! In Romans 1:21, it says, “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” If one of the first things God notices about people who have fallen away is that they weren’t thankful, it must be pretty important!
Several years ago, (probably three or four), one of our aunts, who lives in Oregon, came to visit. While she was here, we spent some time with her, going to the nearby nature center, and visiting the Apple Butter Festival. We had a lot of fun, and when she was back in Oregon, we sent her notes telling her how much fun we had, etc. That was that, right? Well, not quite. Just a couple weeks ago, she called Mom, and said, “I was going through some papers, and came across those notes all of you sent me. I wanted to let you know I still have them and read them!” We were amazed!
As you can see from this little example, it means much more to people than you might at first think. Try it and see!
If we are to give thanks always, in everything, do you know what the ultimate thing to be thankful for is? Jesus dieing for us! We are all sinners, condemned to hell. But God, in His mercy, sent His Son to die for us. We did not deserve it, but He took our blame, opening the gates of heaven. God judges by the Ten Commandments. If you went through the list, how would you do? We all have told lies before, right? (Even if they were little!) So what does that make us? Another commandment says to honor our parents. Have you ever talked back? We’ve broken that commandment too! So, we can see we are guilty. There must be a punishment. But, instead of punishing us, God punished a substitute. Jesus died for us because of our sins, and we only have to accept Him to be washed clean by His cleansing blood. It is your decision. Will you make the right choice?
*Note: If you want to read this story from the Bible, it is found in Esther 2:7, 21-23, 3:1-5, 5:12-14, & 6:1-12. However, I would greatly encourage you to read not only this story, but also the whole book.
