We are excited that we get
to celebrate the Thanksgiving season once again and one more time. Thanks be to
be Jesus our Lord. There is a theme in the Bible that appears in several
different places, and one of them is written in Thessalonians, "Rejoice always,
pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for
you in Christ Jesus" (1
Thess. 5:16-18). "Make music from your heart to the Lord, always
giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ" (Eph.
5:19-20). "And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell
among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through
psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your
hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of
the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him (Colossians
3:15-17).
One of the Christian
doxologies is based on Ephesians 1:1-3- Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly placesin
Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that
we
should be
holy and without blame before Him in love,5having
predestined us to adoption
as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according
to the good pleasure of His will, 6to
the praise of the glory of His grace, by
which He made us accepted in the
Beloved. 7In
Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according
to the
riches of His grace 8which
He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, 9having
made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which
He purposed in Himself, 10that
in the dispensation of the
fullness of the times He
might gather together in one all
things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.
11In
Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His
will."
We cannot manufacture gratitude by willpower,
even though a lot of people try to do this. In the Biblical sense, ingratitude
is the opposite of gratitude.
Ingratitude is not a psychological problem. It's not just an impoverishment of
emotional experience. It's a sin. Paul says it's the hallmark of a life that
rebels against the Lord., "For although they knew God, they neither glorified
him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile." Romans
1. In other words, they perceived themselves to be entitled, to be owed. They
didn't see themselves as grateful receivers of grace every moment.
I love the prayer from the Book of Common Prayer
which teaches us that we owe our
ultimate gratitude for God's ultimate gift.
It says, "Almighty God, Father of all mercies
…" all the benefits, all mercies, "… we your
unworthy servants …" (a phrase which grates in our culture. We don't
want to use it, but if I think of myself as the entitled master, I'll never be
grateful. I'll miss out on God's desire for my life. I'm a creature and I'm a
sinner.) "… we your unworthy servants do give you most
humble and hearty thanks. We bless you for our creation, our preservation, all
the blessings of this life, but above all, for your inestimable love in the
redemption of our world by our Lord Jesus Christ." In other words,
more gratitude will not come from more
acquisitions, but from more awareness of God's presence and God's
goodness.
In Christ.
Brown
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