By: Orean Brown
When you say the word thanksgiving many in United States would immediately think about the Holiday that we just celebrated. They would think of all the wonderful food, the football games and the elaborate parades that take place on that day. Now some people might be reminded to be thankful about their lives while others are just thankful that they have the day off and get to sit around. But to the Christian the word thanksgiving should mean much more than just one day that happens every year because we should be thankful every day of lives for the things we have and especial for the spiritual blessing we have in Jesus. However, sometimes we as Christians follow the mentality of the world and forget to be thankful and instead, we ingratitude for what we have been blessed with. Paul tells Timothy about this in, 2 Timothy 3:1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! Paul was warning Timothy that there would be people who will follow after these sinful ways during his day and during the future days and we can certainly see many people of the world and those who use to be Christians having these same sinful Characteristics. Paul is describing people who are selfish and are full of ingratitude. This describes the current condition of our society pretty well because instead of being thankful for things people takes things for granted and many times, they think they deserve the things that are done for them. Sadly, there are times when the church has helped out people in their time in need and not very many of them every expressed that they were thankful for what they have received. I have even heard of cases where people complained about what they got because it wasn’t name brand or because it was the wrong color. How many times do you see kids these days say thank you for gifts or things that are done for them? Not very many do this because they have not seen their parents or those around them expressing thanksgiving for what they have received. Jesus ran across people like this during his time on the earth as well. For example look at, Luke 17:12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. 13 And they lifted their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” 14 So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so, it was that as they went, they were cleansed. 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. 17 So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? 18“Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19 And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.” So, out of these 10 lepers only one came back to express how thankful he was for blessing he had received while the other 9 simply took this blessing for granted. This is exactly what happens with many Christians today. We take for granted what God has given us and we forget to thank Him for what he has done for us. But, this should not be the case and Paul makes this clear for us in, 1 Thessalonians 5:17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. God didn’t have to create us and he certainly doesn’t have to be part of our lives or send blessing our way but he does these things for us because he loves us and that is why we should always be thankful for all that we have in our life. We as Christians living in this country should be especially thankful for the blessing, we take for granted each day. We need to remember that things that you and I take for granted in our rich nation others in the world see these things as unthinkable luxuries that they will never have and so this shows us just how thankful we should be. Let me give you another example. In China you have underground churches in which they have to secretly pass around bits and pieces of scriptures. I recently saw a video of Chinese students receiving the entire bible, they rejoiced falling to the ground in tears, squeezing and hold the bible as if was the best thing in the world. These young people treasured their copy as they would life itself, and well they should because herein is the word of life.Now compare this with the attitude that people have here in America about the word of God. Many of us are just too busy trying to make more money or trying to enjoy the pleasure of this life than to sit down and enjoy the bread of life that comes from the word of God. Just about every home in America probably has a Bible or several Bible’s and they never get read. Those Chinese students had the right attitude toward the precious Words that are found within the Bible. They cherished it and longed for it because they understood that if they had their own copy, they could open it up anytime they wanted so that they could learn more about Jesus. Our brethren in China consider their Bibles as one of their prized possessions. We need to learn to be more thankful for the many blessing that we have. The apostle Paul is a great example of someone who understood what it meant to be thankful. In fact, Paul uses the words thanksgiving, 9 times thanks 24 times thank God or Christ 11 times and the word thankful 2 times. All and all he expresses his gratitude with these words 46 times. From this article we have seen how important it that we have thanksgiving in our life. The crucial question becomes are you thankful for the blessing you have, or do you find yourself being dissatisfied with what you have? Have you been taking your blessing for granted? If you have I hope that this article has reminded you of just how rich you are in Jesus Christ and how you can draw upon this strength and start being thankful and content with what you have. The next time you find yourself complaining about food or material possession remind yourself of those millions of people in the other countries who love to have what you are complaining about. I want end this article with words of David from, Psalm 100:1 A Psalm of Thanksgiving. Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands! 2 Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before His presence with singing. 3 Know that the LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. 4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. 5 For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.