Thanksgiving is a special time of the year for people. It means many things to people. For the Christian it should be a time of reflecting upon the past year and its blessings from God. It is a time to express our gratitude to God. The Bible tells us in I Thessalonians 5:18 that we are to give thanks "in every thing." It also tells us that this is the will of God for us.
As my pastor pointed out this past Sunday in the preaching, we are to give thanks "in every thing." In other words, while we may struggle to give thanks for any given situation, we can still give thanks in the situation. Most of us, however, will read the Scriptures "in every thing" and in our mind we think "for every thing." For the next few minutes, I want to focus not on "in every thing", but, just briefly focus on "for every thing." I believe that all of us can think of some things to thank God for if we would just take time to consider the facts.
I believe that Christians should be thankful for God's provision. By this I mean that we should thank God for making or providing for our salvation. In Galatians chapter four and verses four and five, we can see that the Bible plainly tells us that God sent His son to redeem us. But, His provision did not stop there. We can see in Romans 1:1 that He provided for our service. Man has a need to be useful. There is not a more useful existence for man than to be servants of God and spread the gospel. Again, He didn't stop. He went on to provide for our survival while we serve Him. In Philippians 4:19 we can see that He has promised to supply all our need according to His riches in glory.
The next thing that I believe every Christian should thank God for is the problems of the past year. Yes, you read it right. I did say problems. Many would not agree with me, but, I believe that God intends to use the problems, that we have faced, for our good. This is based on Romans 8:28. Many would not see things this way but the problems are also opportunities for us to be a testamony of God's sufficient grace.
This third thing that I believe Christians should be thankful for is God's presence. There are three things that we can see about His presence, based on Matthew 1:23 and Hebrews 13:5. In Matthew 1:23 we can see the foretelling of the birth of Christ. The Bible calls His name Emmanuel, meaning God with us. This passage is dealing with the physical presence of Christ upon the earth. But, the spiritual truth that this implies is absolutely amazing! As Christians, we have Him with us. He dwells within us in the person of the Holy Spirit. Then we see His promise in Hebrews 13:5, that He will never leave us or forsake us. If anyone leaves anyone, it is we that leave and forsake Him!!!
The last I believe that Christians should be thankful for His promise for the future. In John chapter fourteen and verses two and three, we can see that Christ has promised all believers a home in heaven. He tells us plainly that He is now preparing our places of dwelling. Now! Now!! Now!!! Then to know that He promised us that He would come back for us that we would be forever with Him, is hope beyond comprehension!
So you see, thanksgiving for the Christian is more than just family reunions and turkey. Thanksgiving from the Christian point of view is GREAT!!!!!
In His Service,
Bro. Miller
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