Happy Thanksgiving!

I want to take this time to wish everybody a nice Thanksgiving holiday. As I'm writing this it's already the day after. However, I still feel it's appropriate to wish everybody a Happy Thanksgiving! God's been abundantly gracious to us. He's better to us than we can ever begin to imagine. I Chronicles 16:8 says, "Give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people." We are to give thanks unto the Lord for all his blessings. One of the greatest tragedies in this modern era that we're living is the lack of thankfulness that's displayed among the American people. It's not only the world that's unthankful but even many of God's people are unthankful. As humans we have a tendency to be unthankful. When trials and undesirable situations come our way we view our circumstances and tend to complain and moan and think we've been handed a raw deal. We fail to stop and recognize in the midst of our circumstances how good God is to us. We lose sight of God's goodness in our life, even in terrible circumstances.

Timothy mentions the spiritual condition our world will be in the last days. He said that men will be lovers of themselves, boastful, covetousness, unthankful, unholy in the last days before Christ's return. Unthankfulness is part of the untoward generation we're living in today. When we as God's people are unthankful, we're saying that God's best isn't sufficient for us. Even though we fail to see it that way, that's what we're in essence saying. I can say in my own life that God's been good to me. He's been far better than what I deserve. What's tragic is there have been generations that's owned far less material goods than what we own today. People from years past were more content with what they had than what we as Americans have in all of our abundance. People are never satisfied with all the gadgets and trinkets they possess. They must have more and more. They eyes of man are never satisfied.

Philippians 4:11 says, "Not that I speak in respect of want; for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content." I was listening to a program on a local radio station one Sunday morning not too long ago. She was speaking of Thanksgiving and mentioned it's not too difficult to be thankful when you aren't lacking or wanting. She asked the question can you be thankful when your world's turned upside down, or there's sickness taking place, etc. Can you be thankful when there's problems with finances or you're having problems with those you work with? Those are good questions. I will admit that there's been people that have had nothing and were much more thankful than those that possess an abundance. Why is that so? Because those that lack many of the world's goods recognize that life doesn't consist of things. Life is about God. It's not about how many houses you can own or how many boats you can purchase. However, all people aren't wired the same. There are some people that don't possess much that are very ungrateful. It depends on how they view happiness or what their priorities are in life. Those that are very materialistic have a tendency to be more ungrateful than those that aren't consumed with material goods.

For the last few years I've been thinking about how good God's been to us and how he's allowed us to possess such an abundance of things. In the midst of all our abundance, we're very unappreciative of what God's given us. It's a shame. Some people have to lose everything they possess to realize how great they had it. It shouldn't be that way. It grieves me when I see the abundance we possess and how little appreciative we are for that abundance. I've been guilty for not being appreciative of the abundance I have. It's true life doesn't consist in the abundance of things. However, we need to recognize we serving a loving God and it ought to cause us to be overwhelmed with thanksgiving in our hearts that God would think enough of us to allow us to possess and enjoy the abundance he's given us. There are Christians that live in the Third World and they live in huts with dirt floors. They only clothing they have is what they're wearing. I guarantee many of those Christians are very happy and thankful. SOMETHING'S WRONG WITH US! SOMETHING'S WRONG WITH OUR THINKING! We possess more of the world's goods today than ever in the history of mankind. We need to learn to be appreciative of the abundance God's given us while we have that abundance. It should overwhelm us that God would choose for us to enjoy this abundance. If we would allow that thought to sink in our hearts and minds, you wouldn't hear very much murming and complaining. We would be some of the most thankful people if we recognize how gracious God's been to allow us to enjoy the nice things of life. That shows God's thoughtful when it comes to the needs of his children. He's mindful of his children.

Let's remember this weekend all the blessings God's given us. Let's remember to be thankful for America and all those soldiers that bled and died throughout the centuries for us to live in a free country called America. America was bought with a price. Most of all, let's be thankful for God's son coming down on earth to die for us on an old rugged cross to forgive us our sins. I'm thankful for the price Jesus paid on Calvary! Thank you Lord for your goodness!