A Reason to be Thankful

We give thanks to you, O God; we give thanks, for your name is near.
We recount your wondrous deeds. (Psalm 75:1)

Today as we celebrate Thanksgiving, as we enjoy the smell of Turkey roasting, pies baking, and gravy simmering, as we take in the sight of fall colors and the sound of a fire crackling or football playing, let us remember that Thanksgiving is not primarily about the here and now because the here and now can be difficult for some.  Thanksgiving can sometimes be difficult to celebrate if you are experiencing trying times.  In fact, Thanksgiving is known to be a time when many people will go into depression—people who are lonely, who may be struggling financially or dealing with some physical disability or may have recently lost a loved one.  Thus, if we focus on the here and now, Thanksgiving for many can be difficult because living life in a fallen world is often difficult.  Rather, Thanksgiving should primarily be about ‘recounting God’s wondrous deeds’ which took place two-thousand years ago on a hill called Calvary.  It should be a time of remembering that “while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:6 ESV), a time of remembering that God “made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21 NASB).  It’s a time of remembering that if all we have in this world is Christ and the salvation he has given to us, we have more treasure and more to be thankful for than we can ever possibly imagine or deserve.  Today, let us not reflect on what we don’t have, but on what we do have. 

​Happy Thanksgiving!