Bulletin Article 11.19.06 -- Spiritual Thanksgiving

There are many prominent thoughts that fill our mind during this time of year. Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to express our thanks to God and before others for the countless blessings we have received. It is comforting to know that we have Someone to thank on this holiday for life, freedom, family, financial standing, food, shelter, and so on. I shudder to think of who atheists stop to thank on this holiday.

One of the things that makes giving thanks for our blessings so poignant is that we as Christians understand that we don’t deserve any of them. They are truly blessings. When we are reminded of how our sin hung Jesus on the cross, we are reminded of how unworthy we are to share in God’s love. But He still sends it our way nonetheless. Most notably, we as Christians should always be thankful and appreciative to God for giving us salvation through Christ.

A familiar event in Luke 17 reminds us of how thankful we should be:

“On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.’ When he saw them he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, ‘Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’ And he said to him, ‘Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well’” (Luke 17:11-19).

Ultimately through the sacrifice of Christ’s life on the cross and His subsequent resurrection, we have been given the supreme gift of salvation from sin. We—just as those lepers were healed from horrible disease—have been healed from the deadly spiritual disease of sin.

There is so for which we should be thankful for year ‘round. As we think about those things, may we always be reminded of what God has given us on the cross. Thanks be to God who has given us the gift of His Son.

O Thou whose bounty fills my cup,
With every blessing meet!
I give Thee thanks for every drop—
The bitter and the sweet.

I praise Thee for the desert road,
And for the riverside;
For all Thy goodness hath bestowed,
And all Thy grace denied.

I thank Thee for both smile and frown,
And for the gain and loss;
I praise Thee for the future crown
And for the present cross.

I thank Thee for both wings of love
Which stirred my worldly nest;
And for the stormy clouds which drove
Me, trembling, to Thy breast.

I bless Thee for the glad increase,
And for the waning joy;
And for this strange, this settled peace
Which nothing can destroy.