Thanksgiving

"Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name." Psalm 100:4

This week, as would seem appropriate, we are praying for a thankful spirit. There are two specific things that I want you to think about as you pray this week:

1. It is a fundamental part of our human nature to allow the past to flavor the present. Said another way, our satisfaction with our current situation normally depends on our past situations. To illustrate, assume you just accepted a new job that pays $100,000 per year. Your gratitude will probably depend on your previous job situation. You will be much more thankful if you're coming from a $50,000 job than if you are coming from a $250,000 job. The point is this - we aren't called to be thankful only for the things that are bigger and better. We are called to be thankful in all situations. And that goes against the nature of our flesh. "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

2. One thing that gets in the way of sincere gratitude is that we all take our blessings for granted. We seldom treat each other as precious gifts that could be taken away at any time. I think back to how my wife and I cherished each other and cherished our kids shortly after 9/11. Why does it take such an incident for the truly important to bubble to the top? Let's think about our blessings from the perspective of what it would be like if we didn't have them… our kids, our spouse, our health…

Have a great week and a great fast.
Your brother,
Bob