Thanksgiving

to whom are you thankful???

As I mentioned in my last post, today is my country's Thanksgiving weekend. In the comment box associated to that post, my good friend and brother-in-the-Lord, Pete, said:

"Happy Thanksgiving Rand and family! Ours in next month, but I know not whom most are thankful to."

This is an interesting and worthy point, one that I felt was worthy of further discussion. Most, in the U.S. and in Canada, couldn't care less about God. That is a fact. They disregard His commandments, they have no desire to serve Him, or know Him for that matter. They take His name in vain, they rarely (if ever) express any kind of thankfulness for God's faithful providence, rather they speak of a "mother nature" or "mother earth". Most brush off the Lord and cling to the nonsense of the "Big Bang" theory and the theory of Evolution. This begs the question:

Who are you, unbeliever, thankful to?

Are you thankful to cosmic energy? To primordial goo which life, supposedly came from? Are you thankful to entropy? Are you thankful at all?

I suppose the last question is the most relevant. Personally, I believe that for most, thanksgiving is just another word for "long weekend". The Bible plainly teaches that unbelievers are NOT characterized by thankfulness:

"Because that, when they (unbelievers) knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened." (Romans 1:21)

On the other hand, Christians are to be known by their thankfulness:

"Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 5:20)

"And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful." (Colossians 3:15)

So I leave the question to you unbeliever... and I know many who do not belong to Christ are reading this... are you thankful to God? Truly?

As for me, on this Thanksgiving, I give thanks to my God for...

-my wife and all three of my beautiful children
-my church family who are blessing to me and a source of comfort in this wicked world
-my parents and my sister, with whom the Lord has given wonderful peace and unity
-my work (yes... my work!), for it presents me with interesting challenges and it provides well for my family.
-all of His providence... the food, the house, the riches, the freedoms and liberty... etc... etc... (of all the peoples of the Earth, surely us Canadians are most blest, as far as earthly blessings are concerned)
-all of God's spiritual providence... for the church fellowship he has directed me to, for the abundance of Bibles and study material that is available to me

The list could go on and on... but in summary, I thank the Lord my God for everything He has provided for me, and His continued care and affection for me, a sinner saved by His wonderful grace!



Rand