“Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this
is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18.
The Thanksgiving tradition in North America is for giving thanks for the blessings
of the harvest of the previous year. It is rooted in the English traditions
going back to the Protestant Reformation. Here in the U.S. Thanksgiving received
official status in 1863 by the Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln setting aside
the last Thursday of November as the day in which to set aside to give thanks
for America’s blessings. On December 26, 1941 Franklin Roosevelt by
Presidential Proclamation changed the date to the fourth Thursday of November. This
day is “celebrated” by both the religious and secular communities. But let’s look at the ‘religious’, if I can
state it in this form, aspect of this day of Thanksgiving, in particular as how
it may be celebrated by the Christian community.
In his first letter to the Thessalonians the Apostle Paul states “. . . in
everything give thanks.” But what are Christians really giving thanks for?
You know well that thanks are given only for those things that they have
received and usually it concerns material things. Is that what we are to do?
No! The Christian is to give The LORD thanks for all things; “. . . in
everything give thanks.” There are no excuses. There are no exceptions, “in
everything give thanks.” That is everything, in persecution, in tragedy, no
matter what the circumstances; in struggles, in trial, in testing, be thankful,
give thanks directly to HIM. All this
with the obvious exception of personal sin and that is self-explanatory.
The essence of the Christian attitude and living essence is thanksgiving. Being unthankful is the essence of the unregenerate
heart. This is explained in Romans 1:21,
“For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks,
but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was
darkened.” The indictment here is
against the non-Christian, the unbeliever, who refuses to do the very basic,
give thanks to GOD for everything. The character
of the unregenerate, unsaved man is he will not give thanks to GOD.
Where are you found in this? Do you give thanks to the LORD in all things?
Or are you like the unregenerate?
No comments:
Post a Comment