Issue 1267 – Happy Thanksgiving – October 6, 2023
In Canada, it is the Thanksgiving Day long weekend. For our friends south of the border, it will come on November 23. Some countries don’t celebrate it at all. I will take the weekend off, and Gleanings will resume on Tuesday.
What are you grateful for? As I ponder that question, I am reminded of the hymn “Count your blessings.” The refrain says.
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God has done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your many blessings, see what God has done.
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.
Gratitude ought to be the perpetual state of Christian believers, but we often take our blessings for granted. It is good to take the time to be intentionally thankful.
One wag suggested that “we should always be thankful. Things could always get worse.” While that was spoken somewhat tongue in cheek, there is a lot of wisdom in the words.
A believer’s gratitude is simply because things can get worse (for indeed they might). Our gratitude stems from the same source as our hope and joy.
Our God reigns, and Jesus has defeated death and the grave. We have been forgiven the unforgivable. We are adopted into the family of God and can look forward to being with Him forever.
The Holy Spirit is resident in us, working to conform us into the very image of God Himself.
That is a heritage that no power on earth can take away from us. Our earthly circumstances can get better or worse, but our hope is better than money in the bank and more certain than taxes.
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Our hope and our joy are not dependent on our earthly circumstances. That is a powerful reason to give thanks.
This past year may have brought you happiness or sorrow, gain or loss, victory or defeat. You might be atop a mountaintop spiritually or deep in the valley of the shadow of death. You may have had significant improvement or deterioration in your health, financial situation or relationships. There may be pain in the offering.
Through it all, if you have Christ in your life, you have reason to give thanks.
I’m not so naive as to think that a few platitudes about being grateful will fix everything that is wrong in your life. The truth is that we may or may not face more of the same.
Yet, the truth is that we can truly be grateful because of the promises and love of God. We can also rejoice when times are hard, and it feels like there is no hope on the horizon.
More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Romans 5:3-5
This weekend, may you take the time to be genuinely thankful and offer prayers and praises of gratitude to the Lord.
Be blessed
Hallelu Yah / Praise God
Kevin
Gleanings From The Word
Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life.
Soli Deo Gloria (For the glory of God alone)
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All contents, “Gleanings From The Word” and “Experience an Extraordinary God in Ordinary Life,” are © 2001, 2023 KF “Kevin” Corbin Gleanings From The Word.
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is from the English Standard Version (ESV).
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