Praise the Lord for this glorious day. It has been raining today. It is cloudy and gloomy, but the Sun is shining brightly somewhere on our Lord's good earth. Laureen is home after spending very sunny days in Thailand. She shared with us that though it is the beginning of winter in Thailand the temperature was in the high 80's everyday with blue skies. Sunita and Andy will be coming home this evening. Jessica and Tom will be here this evening too. Janice, Jeremy, Micah and Simeon will be here Friday after spending Thanksgiving day with Jeremy's family in Pennsylvania. We are eternally grateful to Jesus for all His blessings and gifts.
Our Lord Jesus told a wonderful parable about some workers. It goes like this: The owner of a vineyard went out early in the morning to hire workers. Then he hired others in the afternoon, and still more in the evening. Each group originally agreed to a set wage. Then the Bible says, “So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’” (Matthew 20:8-15). The workers who went out in the morning were pleased to work for a denarius, the standard wage for a day’s work, but when they started comparing their wage to others they felt cheated and were filled with resentment. Comparisons breed envious thoughts, jealous hearts and grudging dispositions; they take the joy out of life.
A few years ago, a new book reached the #1 spot on the New York Times best-seller list. The book’s title was: Final Exit, by Derek Humphry, the director of the national Hemlock Society. It gives detailed instructions on a variety of ways to commit suicide. When a book is written about how to end your life, and it ends up on the best-seller list, you get the impression that there is something wrong out there — not much contentment or joy. All of this in the wealthiest land in all the world, with more privileges, freedoms and possibilities than anywhere else, at any time. It speaks of how much we take for granted, and how much ingratitude has poisoned our hearts. People have piled things on top of their pain, and found that they make poor anesthetics. Under all the luxury we are still more unhappy than many of those who live in abject poverty. Is there any more telling evidence that we are a people desperately in need of God? Can anyone come up with a more plausible explanation? We have denied ourselves nothing — except a relationship with our Creator.
An attitude of gratitude stimulates sharing. Chuck Swindoll tells the story of a young attorney in New York who was single. Every year at Thanksgiving the senior partner of the firm would buy everyone a fresh turkey for their Thanksgiving dinner. The young man never knew what to do with his turkey, since he did not have a family, but every year he accepted it graciously. That night, as he rode the subway home, he wondered what to do with the large prize sitting in his lap. He didn’t know how to cook it, and his family lived in another state. As he traveled home that night, a disheveled and discouraged looking stranger sat beside him on the subway. They began to talk, and the attorney learned that the man had spent the whole day looking for a job, but without luck. He had a large family, and was concerned about what he would do for Thanksgiving. The attorney was thrilled to find someone who could use the bird that had been given to him. He did not want the man to feel like a charity case so he said to him, “How much money do you have?” He said, “Only a couple of dollars and a few cents.” “Sold,” exclaimed the attorney and placed the turkey in his lap. The man was moved to tears and thanked him over and over again, delighted that his family could have a good Thanksgiving with such a fine bird, and at such a good price.
But the next Monday morning the attorney’s co-workers circled his desk with smiles on their faces. Some of them laughed as they asked him how he like his turkey. He sat horrified as they told him how they had replaced his real turkey with one made of papier-mache. They had carefully weighted the fake bird, and after wrapping it in brown paper, stuck a real neck and tail through the paper. For a week the he rode the subway for all hours searching for the stranger he had unintentionally wronged, but never found him.
People may make mistakes and fail us, they may even play tricks on us, but God doesn’t make mistakes when he blesses us with his gifts. He does not fool us, or play jokes on us. The Bible says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights” (James 1:7). That is why we can say, “This is the day the LORD has made; [we will] rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24). We are content, we are happy because we are a people of hope. We are a people of hope because we have a God who cares. He has made us, and he has made our world. He has made today and all our tomorrows. And out of the gratitude we feel toward him for all his faithful goodness, we want to share the blessings.
In his book, Stan Toler writes: “I was a church planter at one time and felt impressed by the Lord to send $50 to some missionaries. When I shared with my wife what had been laid on my heart, we took a look at our checkbook and found $54 in our balance. Not much room for error there. She said, ‘Honey, I wasn’t raised quite like you, but I trust you and have faith in your stewardship commitments. Let’s do it.’ So I wrote the check and sent it to the Carters in Arizona, who were ministering to Native Americans in a small reservation village. Even though I knew it had been the right thing to do, I did begin to wonder how we were going to manage. The next day I went to the post office, and I picked up a letter from a student at Asbury Theological Seminary who had been one of my roommates at college. The letter read, ‘I just had you and Linda on my heart and felt impressed to write you. I’m enclosing a check for you, knowing you will probably put it in the offering plate next Sunday, but it is not for your church. It is for you.’ Fifty bucks! When the check we sent arrived in Arizona, Doug Carter called immediately. ‘Stan, your check just arrived. What timing! We had an appointment with the doctor for our daughter, Angie, but we had no money to pay the bill. I was just about to make the dreaded phone call to tell the doctor, but I paused to look at the mail first, and there it was. The Lord was right on schedule, wasn’t he?’ How could God touch a poor church planter on the shoulder and say, ‘Send $50 to missionaries in Arizona,’ even though he knew the church planter needed it, and at the same time touch a student at Asbury Theological Seminary on the shoulder and say to him, ‘Send $50 to the Tolers’? A cynical person might ask, ‘Why didn’t God just impress the Asbury student to send his $50 directly to the missionaries in Arizona?’ To the first question I say, that’s how God works. To the second I suggest that God wanted to pour out his blessings on three families instead of two.”
Having an attitude of gratitude is an act of faith. It means we are unafraid to live and be joyful, because we have faith in a God who cares for us and provides for us. He is faithful and his promises are true. He never fails. And because we have a relationship with this wonderful God we have joy and a desire to pass on some of what God has blessed us with. To trust is to thank. It creates an attitude of gratitude. Praise the Lord for the season of gratitude.
I praise the Lord for all of you. Have a blessed Thanksgiving Day tomorrow and a blessed weekend. I'll post my next devotional next Monday, November 30. Thanks for sharing and caring and praying.
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cyqn2LxKVk
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