In the United States, we have just come through the Thanksgiving Holiday. Family and friends gathered from across the miles. Huge meals that took hours or days to prepare were laid out. Blessings were said. This day many folks ate until their buttons were strained to stay closed. We spent time with people we had not seen for months. Many of us were joyous as we marked the beginning to the Holiday Season. My own Thanksgiving was spent with our wonderful friends, our family, and extended family. I was blessed to be with them all. However, as wonderful as this time was; it left me with a nagging question. Why is it that we have to choose (since 1941) the fourth Thursday in November to give thanks for all of our blessings? Should we not give thanks, always?
We Are Blessed Beyond Measure
We are all greatly blessed, no matter our social or financial strata. Most of us have roofs over our heads, warm beds to sleep in, we know where our next meal is coming from, and we don’t have to walk for miles to fetch the family’s daily water supply. Most of our children have shoes on their feet and thrive in a loving family. The majority of us do not know abject poverty or pandemic sickness. Our Maker wakes us every morning and gives us the opportunity to live in the knowledge that we are loved beyond measure. No matter what obstacles we face, we are never alone in the struggle to overcome them. As Children of God, Brothers and Sisters of Christ we have already defeated the worst this world has to offer.
Give Thanks, Always
It is easy to give thanks when everything is coming up roses but should we not be thankful also on the days when the clouds loom dark overhead? Christians have so much to be thankful for every day. We should give thanks, always. We are alive and we have Hope and Faith. Hebrews 11 explains what it means to have Faith.
11 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
Hebrews 11:1-3 (ESV)
In Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus, he tells us why we should be faithful.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV)
Because we have Faith, we can look forward to our lives with our Master, free of ills and sorrow. Our worries are like everything else in this life. They are just temporary. We are only here for a short time compared to eternity in Paradise. Hallelujah! Shout praise to Heaven! There is always something to be thankful for even in the stormiest of times. Should we not give thanks, always!
No Matter What
I will agree that we all have troubles and trials from time to time. Some of our lives just suck. I, myself, suffer from anxiety, as I have confessed previously and I have come to realize that there is always something to be thankful for. I am alive, and I am loved. God is beside me no matter what. He carries me when I am too weak to stand. He protects me from Evil. No matter what this world throws at me; God is there right beside me to get me through it. I am put here to learn and grow, preparing for the next life. We, so often, find that growth in hardship. The prophet Isaiah revealed God’s thoughts about our trials.
Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;
Isaiah 48:10 (ESV)
I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.
Be Thankful to God in His Mercy
Let us look at more of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Christians at Ephesus.
2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:1-10 (ESV)
Be Thankful Every Day
If one can’t find anything else to be thankful for, these words from Ephesians should do the trick. See how far we have come from sin and darkness, from death in our sins to eternal life through Grace. I certainly want to give thanks, always.
Merciful Heavenly Father we humbly give You thanks for Your mercy and grace, but most of all for Your immeasurable love. We remember that You loved us so much that You gave Your Son to die on a cross so that we might gain Life Eternal. Help us to do the work you have given us to do so that others may come to find Your grace in their lives. In Jesus holy name we pray. Amen
