If Not Us…Who?
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
“For health and strength and daily bread, we give thee thanks oh Lord” was the little ditty we sang before meals at the Christian camp I attended just outside of Rockwood some fifty years ago now. We sang it in a round, all of us, a whole bunch of children and even a whole group of them from Mexico that would come up every year to attend Camp Brébeuf. Gratitude, thankfulness, appreciation for the Lord’s provision was part of our lifestyle. It was a part of being Canadian – part of the Christian faith in a Christian nation. It’s been part of us for at least the last 150 years. Dating back to 1859, the provinces agreed on a day to thank God for His mercies. In 1879, the Governor General declared “a day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed.” In 1957, the Canadian Parliament reiterated the phrase for the second Monday in October to be the official “day of General thanksgiving to Almighty God…”. As God’s people, the sheep of His pasture, we are to be overflowing with thankfulness (Col. 2:7), giving thanks always (1Thess. 5:18), living lives in praise and thanksgiving (Psa. 100:4), with gratitude in our hearts (Col. 3:16). How are we doing at that?
Do you ever wonder how atheists celebrate Thanksgiving? Who do you thank when you believe you are the only source of all that you have? Why not be honest with yourself and not take the holiday…go to work! You are your own provider, so get providing! Who provides the rain, and the sun, and causes growth (Matt. 5:45), and gives life and breath and everything else to all people (Acts. 17:25). Clearly “the fool says in his heart, there is no God” (Psa. 14:1). To whom does the agnostic who claims God can’t be known give thanks? The unknown God (Acts 17:23)! To whom does the New Ager ascribe glory and honor – Mother Earth, The Universe, Positive Energy, actually… themselves since they are their own personal divinity. I read a recent study that revealed some alarming facts: of the 65% of Americans who call themselves “Christians”, less than 6% actually have a biblical worldview, that number falls to 2% of adults below 30 years of age. A biblical worldview would include things like believing in creation, and God governing His creation through the natural laws and ordered systems He has put in place to sustain life on planet Earth. The question arises out of a study like this, how many truly see that ‘every good and perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights’ (James 1:17). Do you know that the people of the ‘last days’ in which we now live, will be characterized as ‘ungrateful’ (2Tim 3:1-2)? Of course they would! If the majority do not believe in God, and believe that they are each their own provider, responsible for their own well-being, masters of their own destiny…there is no other one to thank than yourself. But why thank yourself when YOU had to work so hard to get what you wanted? It’s just the natural by-product of hard work: the evolutionary species survival of the fittest! People without God are ‘lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God’ (2Tim. 3:4). Not so with us! We love God and we are a grateful people, aren’t we!
Remember God’s people grumbling and complaining after deliverance from Egypt - God was not pleased (1Cor. 10:10). Remember God coming down to Earth as a man - even Jesus, modeling for us how to commune with Father God. What was the practice of the Son of God? Gratitude! He “gave thanks” before every meal. Jesus thanked God when He saw His Father working in the hearts and minds of people (Matt. 11:25). He thanked God for answering prayer (John 11:41). Even on the hardest night of His life, with His betrayer in the room, hours before His arrest, torture and crucifixion, He was thankful to be able to do the Father’s will. Gratitude is the lifestyle of the one who lives in relationship with a benevolent God. Thankfulness is the overflow of a heart set free by the grace and love of a merciful God, who has delivered us from the bondage of living for our own vices. Friends, we are a peculiar people; even more peculiar as time goes on in an age where people live for personal pleasure, no longer acknowledging the generosity of a gracious Creator. Thanksgiving should be a time where we boldly proclaim what our forefathers did, “We thank Almighty God for His generous provision!” As our world becomes more secular and more and more people come to our nation who do not know the One True God of the Bible, may we be ever more faithful to declare the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His wonderful light (1Peter 2:9). If not us…who?
Peace and Joy
"Advancing the Kingdom of God by releasing Spirit-filled followers to serve Jesus in freedom and joy."
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