Give Thanks

Been Thinking About: A Message From Pastor Max

​Several days ago I awoke with the song titled “Give Thanks” in my mind and on my heart.  We all have much to be thankful for!  After singing this song for a while my mind then settled upon a text of Scripture found in the book of Hebrews. 

Hebrews 11:39 - 40
39 And all these, though well attested by their faith, did not receive what was promised,  40 since God had foreseen something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. 

Many times in our lives we center our thoughts of Thanksgiving upon the immediate context of our life.  We stop for but a brief moment to be thankful on Thanksgiving Day before we eat.  We may say a prayer thanking God for food, family and fellowship.  We are thankful for jobs, freedom in America and even material possessions which we often do not need.  Most commonly Christians are thankful for Jesus, who came from heaven to suffer, be crucified and ultimately resurrected which purchased our salvation and eternal life. 
 
Yes, we should be thankful for the aforementioned list of things.  They are all valid and great reminders of God at work in our lives and our midst.  That Saturday morning my mind began to ponder a different area for which we all need to be thankful.  This area is that of our faith.    
 
On November 1st some members of the Christian community will celebrate what they call “All Saints Day”.  Although this may not be a common observance in our tradition I was reminded of how much we owe to those fellow believers who lived before us and ran the race of the Christian faith.  They certainly laid the foundation upon which we base our lives. 
 
We can be thankful for those individuals who obediently lived their lives in service to the Lord and fulfilled their calling which provided us with the Bible.  We can be thankful for the examples of those faithful believers who have left us inspiring lives which we can learn of and be motivated to move forward in our journey with Christ.  We can be thankful for those who wrought with the Lord and struggled to bring meaning to life’s difficulties in view of a loving God.  We can be thankful for the reformers who sought truth instead of blindly accepting the way things were in their day.  We can be thankful for those individuals who diligently sought to translate the Bible into our language so we can read it with ease and not struggle with translation.  We can be thankful for all those Christians who have impacted our lives such as pastors, teachers of the Word of God, missionaries, wisdom filled students of the faith and those Saints that constantly inspire us to move forward! 
 
As we approach this time of Thanksgiving may we stop and ponder what the Lord has truly done for us!  He has given all of us a legacy which we can contribute, build upon and draw from as we journey with Christ.  He has done this for you and me because as the Scripture says; God had foreseen something better for us!  As the title of the song says let us all truly “Give Thanks”.  
 
- Pastor Max