Thanksgiving

On Thursday our nation will celebrate a day of Thanksgiving. It will be a day of joy and feasting. Most of you will be with your families. Your children and grandchildren will be home. All over the country, our nation will show some gratitude to God for his providential mercies. We will thank him for our liberty, prosperity, and peace. Certainly, we should do so. God's goodness toward us as a nation is abundant. Even with all of her problems, America is still the happiest and most prosperous land in the world.

But, my brothers and sisters, we are citizens of a heavenly kingdom. And we have greater reason than anyone to give thanks to our God. Let us rejoice and give thanks for our spiritual blessings in Christ more than we do for our outward prosperity. Give thanks unto God for the person of Christ and his rich grace. Give thanks unto the Lord for his covenant mercy. Give thanks unto your God for your full salvation by Christ. Give thanks unto the Lord for the fact that he has given you a place to worship, where the gospel of Christ is loved and preached. Give thanks to our God for all things in providence - "All things are yours, for ye are Christ's."

Do not let your thanksgiving be limited to a day. But in everything give thanks at all times. Thanksgiving is the opposite of murmuring and complaining. It is more than mere words. If we truly give thanks to God, we live before him in love, joy, and peace. Being confident of his goodness in Christ Jesus, we are content in all things. THANKSGIVING is the joy of faith in Christ.

Don Fortner