In everything give thanks…1 Thessalonians 5:18
That verse can sometimes be one of the toughest verses in the Bible. Is it really possible to give thanks in everything that happens to us? Thanksgiving is a time that I begin to look back, look around and start looking forward. I recently heard someone say that we have the Thanksgiving Holiday backwards. Instead of griping and complaining 364 days of the year and giving thanks one day a year, maybe we should turn it around. How about giving thanks 364 days a year, then setting one day aside to gripe and complain?
This will probably be a tough winter financially for many people. I want to remind you that money does not mean happiness. I will probably post an old devotional I did a few years back on the simplicity of Christmas. We don’t need the commercialism to hold on to the character of Christmas. I am working on a sermon series called The Heart of Christmas. The series will start this Sunday, November 30. I will be talking about The House of Bread and how God provides.
Sometimes life is hard, but God is constant and strong. Your life may have drastically changed since the last Christmas season, but I can promise you that God does not change. His love for you is unconditional. His care for you is unwavering. And His grace to you is unlimited. So go and thank Him even if things aren’t what you want them to be. And remember that God inhabits our praise and our Thanksgiving.
March 22nd, 2010 at 11:05 am
You aptly state that “… Sometimes life is hard …”, and that is where we tend to get hang up! This reality that there are times when life is hard, and despite all our efforts we cannot control all the events that come into our lives. The gap between where we “want” to be, where we think we “should” be and where we “are”, creates that confusion, and all a host of emotions, thus gratefulness becomes hard or difficult.