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