Thanksgiving
· Pastor Art – Bible Teacher
Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
Serve the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the LORD is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Psalm 100 is the premier psalm of praise in the Psalter. Every line is packed with beauty and meaning. It is the Word of the LORD!
As we approach the Advent Season, the celebration of Jesus' birth, I would like to give praise to God for three major gifts of God in my life—and perhaps in yours as well. There are, of course, hundreds of things for which we offer God praise. But for now, these three come to mind as major contributors to my quality of life.
I thank God for the family.
What a gift of God the family is. The nuclear family of father, mother, and children is the ideal. There are also many single parent homes in our times. That works as well. When family is present, there is emotional enrichment.
My own family of origin was the common grouping of parents and children. And it was a Christian family. While in college I married. My wife and I establish our home with Jesus Christ at the center. God gave us three children. In time they grew up, married and had their own children. Now several grandchildren have married. Our numbers have swelled from two, at the beginning, to 15 now. I expect the numbers will continue to increase in God's kind providence.
As with any family, ours has been blessed with many advantages and some burdens as well. What impresses me the most is that all of the 15 family members trust Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Of course, none of us is perfect, but we are all growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ. Truly, "The Lord's faithfulness continues through all generations."
I thank God for liberty.
What a gift of God liberty is. I live in a constitutional and representative democracy under the rule of law. There is freedom in my country. Of course, freedom is not unlimited. We are not free to go and to do, if such actions would infringe on the freedom of others. That would create anarchy. Nevertheless, there is enough freedom, to make me thankful to God for the gift of personal liberty.
Not everyone in the world has the advantage of liberty. I believe that this is the aspiration of every human heart—to live his or her life in a country where democracy is practiced. Unfortunately, in all too many countries of the world there is still the brutal dictatorship of a single man (I know of no women dictators) or of a political system such as communism. In other countries there is freedom only for the adherents of a particular religious system. Sadly, that same freedom is not extended to minority religions. In Western democracies, where I am fortunate enough to live, there is religious freedom for all people to practice their faith according to their understanding and choice.
I am blest to live in a country where there is freedom of religion, of speech, of the press, of the people to peaceably assemble and of the people to petition the government to correct injustice. We may vote government officials into or out of office. This is a pretty amazing gift of representative, constitutional government—a gift of God.
I thank God for salvation.
What a gift of God salvation is. I am a Christian. There are well over a billion Christians on earth at the beginning of the 21st Century. That's a lot—the largest religious grouping in our world of seven billion people. There are other strong religious groupings in the world: Moslems, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews and others. There is truth expressed in all faiths. Yet, Christians believe that there is only one God (as do Muslims and Jews) and this God has revealed himself to us in the Hebrew/Christian Bible as a Triune God—God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. One and only one God in three Persons. This is the historic Christian faith. I say this not to be arrogant or to demean other faiths. But, obviously only one world religion can be ultimately true. Each of us has to examine the evidence and make our own decision.
Christians believe that the one true and living God looked upon sinful human beings in love and mercy. Being a just God, he could not overlook sin, God the Father made a plan to allow sinful human beings to return to God, i.e., to forsake sin and receive the free gift of righteousness and eternal life. He gave his Son, Jesus, the Messiah, to come to earth and die on the cross and thereby to bear the punishment for sin we deserved. This Jesus, who died, was buried and then rose from the grave. He ascended into heaven and now lives forevermore. One day he will return to put down sin by force and rule in righteousness over all the earth.
In love and mercy the Holy Spirit now invites us to an encounter with the living God. He asks us to repent and turn from our sins. We can accept God's offer of forgiveness and receive the gift of eternal life in heaven, or we can turn it down. The choice is ours.
I and my family, along with over a billion other human beings on earth right now, have said "YES" to the Christian faith. In all love and humility, we invite all living on planet earth to examine the evidence contained in the reliable and historical record called The Bible, and decide for yourself, if you, too, want to become a Christian. The Bible teaches that there is only one way to heaven and that is through God the Son, Jesus Christ, the only Savior of the world. Consider the evidence contained in the Bible and make your decision.
As we approach the Advent Season commonly known as Christmas, I am thankful for these three major gifts of a gracious God: the family, liberty, and salvation through Jesus Christ. Join me in the thanksgiving of Psalm 100!
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Photo Credit: John Frenzel, Millbrook, NY