Freedom is Good News Part 159

Thanksgiving Day is only a short time in the future and perhaps this article is in your hands as we anticipate that special day.  I feel that maybe we should consider what it means to be thankful.

Someone gives you a gift and you say, “thank you”.  OK, fair enough, is that statement just a reaction or do you truly feel gratitude?  Growing up, I was told that it is polite to say thank you for the things people may present as gifts.  Even if I didn’t care for the gift, Mother told me to write a thank you note and express some positive sentiment.  That isn’t always the case anymore.  Perhaps children are not taught the societal norms these days.

But we have a day coming up that has been designated by our federal government as a day to give thanks.  Now that is curious.  Our Government which tries to teach us that we mustn’t be too religious when out in public; actually has assigned a day in the year to give thanks.  So to whom do they expect us to be thankful, if not to God the giver of every good and perfect gift!!  Sounds as though our forefathers had it in mind to set aside a day to give thanks to the true God!

Do you know something?  Not every gift given to our friends and relatives is a meaningful one.  But the reality is, it is not always about the giver or the receiver; it is about the thought behind the gift.  Lying behind every gift we have received is a sacrifice; a sacrifice of time and or money (well yes, money is related to time).  And so we appreciate the thought, time and money spent.  I am sure you are all with me on this, so let’s talk about this day approaching.

In the scriptures it says that, the earth and all that is in it belongs to the LORD (Psm. 24:1).  So who are you going to thank?  Do you have land to farm on?  God lets you use His land.  Do you have a nice house to live in?  God grew the trees, etc. to make it possible to build that house.  Do you sit down to a splendid meal on this particular day?  God caused the food to grow and He created the turkey for our appetites.  Everything we have has been given to us by our Creator!!

But oh, there is one more thing!  Earlier I mentioned that lying behind every gift we have received is a sacrifice.  God’s sacrifice for us is so much more than mere time or money.  So let me suggest something we should be thankful for this upcoming day of giving thanks.  Jesus, just hours before He was to give of Himself as a pure and perfect sacrifice, knelt in the Garden of Gethsemane and prayed, “My father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.  Yet not as I will, but as you will.”  The bible says He prayed this three times.  (You will find this episode in Matthew 26:36-56.)  But something else He said should catch our attention.  When faced with those who would arrest Him, and Peter drew his sword to start the battle, Jesus told Peter to put away the sword because, “I can call upon my Father and He will at once put at my disposal more than 12 legions of angels.”  At that point in time the 72,000 angels, if called for, would have done more than stop the threat of arrest.  They would have destroyed the world.  This world, and all that is in it, is nothing without the Son of God as its Savior and we can truly give thanks that “He laid down His life for His friends!!!  What a friend we have in Jesus!