ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF GOD’S PRESENCE

If our heart is facing the right direction, thankfulness and gratitude are close by, and in overflow.

Life is full of surprises. Some good, others not so much. God allows both to occur to everyone. He rains on the righteous and the unrighteous alike. He loves everyone, but not everyone loves Him. Thankfulness requires an attitude of humility to draw to mind that things could be worse, especially when they’re not. Recognizing a blessing for what it is—a gift from God—requires that we see our life’s circumstances without spiritual blindness. Thankfulness is the acknowledgement of God’s presence and involvement in our lives; that while His spiritual entity is physically invisible, the fruit produced by His presence itself is louder and more obvious than anything else in our tangible world.

OUR TIME IS SHORT

We don’t have as much time we as we may think we do. Time is short; life is but a vapor (James 4:14). It’s a theme I’ve touched upon multiple times on this blog this year. We don’t have the luxury of knowing when, or even how, we will eventually die. Perhaps God keeps that knowledge from us to help us make better spiritual choices resulting in a more intentional life. Perhaps a secret to not allowing us to know when our time is up is to teach us to be thankful in ways that produces the type of fruit that points back to Him.

OUR FREEDOM OF CHOICE IS OUR FREEDOM TO CHOOSE GOD

God, in His graciousness, means to influence us to place stronger effort into our day-to-day decisions. He wants our hearts to be for Him, first and foremost, but He allows us the time and space and gives us the freedom to believe time is in our favor to use as we will (which wastes it), or conversely, the freedom to understand with wisdom that the time He gives has the power to enable us to submit to an alternative perspective, which views time as a resource intended to be permeated by His will, in all its sovereignty, in the faith that it will have its way with our temporary lives, impacting others with eternal rewards giving all glory and honor to God through Christ.

There’s gratitude to be had when we learn to trust that God’s will is better than anything we can understand. When our spiritual maturity has reached a level where we learn to utilize our freedom of choice for the purpose of surrendering our will for His, it transforms and humbles our outlook, allowing us to appreciate the truth that what He wants for us is better than we could ever want for ourselves.

FUNDAMENTAL IDEA OF THANKFULNESS

This could be the fundamental idea behind what it is to be thankful: To desire His will above ours, to recognize our time is short (and resist wasting it), and for that realization to convict us (by the grace of God) to surrender our desires in favor of pursuing the Kingdom of God and invite the Holy Spirit to take charge of our lives (our thoughts, actions, and words).

Only then, when we fully understand (to the degree that we can as flawed humans) how choice works, do we appreciate how freedom of choice can coincide with God’s sovereign will. His will does not render our will as nonexistent, nor does it take away the underlying truth that our choice is truly ours; rather, it shines a light on the facet of reality where God’s omniscience and omnipotence makes it possible for us to uniquely make a choice that is ours, while also being His (through the work of the Holy Spirit by faith). And that is a cause for grand thankfulness and gratitude, because left to our own will, we would only destroy ourselves by our sin. There would be nothing to be thankful for in destroying ourselves (which is the will of the Devil (John 10:10).

CELEBRATE MORE WITH OUR HEARTS THAN WITH DISHES

On Thanksgiving, in which most Americans generally celebrate with food—let us celebrate with our hearts.

Let us celebrate with truth. Let us celebrate by worshiping our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ, by offering Him our lives. Take a moment (or many moments) to realize the Christian walk of thankfulness and surrender is a moment-by-moment decision that is made consciously, not accidentally or coincidentally. None of us are perfect at placing His will first, including myself. But we are called to live higher than celebrating a holiday for only one day by eating more. We are called to live every single day by giving God the glory in everything we do, think, and say (1 Corinthians 10:31).

And… we all fail, miserably.

Yet, God’s grace abounds and He is merciful.

A PRACTICE OF BECOMING MORE LIKE CHRIST

Let us repent of not being more intentional and work hard at what must be done to be more intentional with our hearts. Let Thanksgiving not merely be a day in November, but every day of our lives. Let turkey (or any food) not be the way we recognize such a day, but let Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and resurrection from the dead be the reason for our thankfulness for every good thing in our lives. It’s a practice that requires determination, humility, patience, and surrender, but that’s exactly what Jesus’ whole human life reflected a posture of, wasn’t it?

He was determined to carry out the will of His Father; humbled to do what only He could do by taking off His glory and putting on flesh (Philippians 2:6-11); He was patient and truthful with every sinner He ever met, and He surrendered His will to the Father even when God didn’t remove the cup from the end of His human life. Jesus’ lifestyle manifested thankfulness in its fullness; that while knowing full well He was living just to be killed in order to rise again for the salvation of sinners, He utilized every moment and filled it with purpose.

OUR EXEMPLAR IS OUR REASON FOR EVERY DAY LIVING

Jesus manifested every characteristic we’re called to master as followers of Him who did what He did when He didn’t have to. We have a responsibility as people who receive Jesus as Lord, to be a light in the darkness and salt of the earth for others to witness what Jesus did for us, by how they see Him living through us. We can be reminders for everyone to see the God who gives us all a reason to be thankful. Our Savior lives! Jesus sits at the right hand of God in a place of honor and authority, and He is worthy of our lives in every way. Let us be thankful—not merely with food, but with our entire being; not just today, but always.

May our lives be pleasing in His sight as we strive to be more like Christ. May thanksgiving be deep in our hearts, and not merely on our calendars. In Jesus’ name!

CONNECT WITH ME

If this article spoke to you, would you let me know? You can share your thoughts with me privately by sending a message through my contact page. Or you can post your thoughts publicly in the comments section below. If you’d like to receive future published articles, please subscribe to this blog, and/or follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Threads, and Pinterest. If you know anyone this article might bless, would you share it with them also? Please let me know if there’s a topic any of you would like me to write an article about that would help you on your faith journey. Thanks so much for reading!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF GOD’S PRESENCE

If our heart is facing the right direction, thankfulness and gratitude are close by, and in overflow.

Life is full of surprises. Some good, others not so much. God allows both to occur to everyone. He rains on the righteous and the unrighteous alike. He loves everyone, but not everyone loves Him. Thankfulness requires an attitude of humility to draw to mind that things could be worse, especially when they’re not. Recognizing a blessing for what it is—a gift from God—requires that we see our life’s circumstances without spiritual blindness. Thankfulness is the acknowledgement of God’s presence and involvement in our lives; that while His spiritual entity is physically invisible, the fruit produced by His presence itself is louder and more obvious than anything else in our tangible world.

OUR TIME IS SHORT

We don’t have as much time we as we may think we do. Time is short; life is but a vapor (James 4:14). It’s a theme I’ve touched upon multiple times on this blog this year. We don’t have the luxury of knowing when, or even how, we will eventually die. Perhaps God keeps that knowledge from us to help us make better spiritual choices resulting in a more intentional life. Perhaps a secret to not allowing us to know when our time is up is to teach us to be thankful in ways that produces the type of fruit that points back to Him.

OUR FREEDOM OF CHOICE IS OUR FREEDOM TO CHOOSE GOD

God, in His graciousness, means to influence us to place stronger effort into our day-to-day decisions. He wants our hearts to be for Him, first and foremost, but He allows us the time and space and gives us the freedom to believe time is in our favor to use as we will (which wastes it), or conversely, the freedom to understand with wisdom that the time He gives has the power to enable us to submit to an alternative perspective, which views time as a resource intended to be permeated by His will, in all its sovereignty, in the faith that it will have its way with our temporary lives, impacting others with eternal rewards giving all glory and honor to God through Christ.

There’s gratitude to be had when we learn to trust that God’s will is better than anything we can understand. When our spiritual maturity has reached a level where we learn to utilize our freedom of choice for the purpose of surrendering our will for His, it transforms and humbles our outlook, allowing us to appreciate the truth that what He wants for us is better than we could ever want for ourselves.

FUNDAMENTAL IDEA OF THANKFULNESS

This could be the fundamental idea behind what it is to be thankful: To desire His will above ours, to recognize our time is short (and resist wasting it), and for that realization to convict us (by the grace of God) to surrender our desires in favor of pursuing the Kingdom of God and invite the Holy Spirit to take charge of our lives (our thoughts, actions, and words).

Only then, when we fully understand (to the degree that we can as flawed humans) how choice works, do we appreciate how freedom of choice can coincide with God’s sovereign will. His will does not render our will as nonexistent, nor does it take away the underlying truth that our choice is truly ours; rather, it shines a light on the facet of reality where God’s omniscience and omnipotence makes it possible for us to uniquely make a choice that is ours, while also being His (through the work of the Holy Spirit by faith). And that is a cause for grand thankfulness and gratitude, because left to our own will, we would only destroy ourselves by our sin. There would be nothing to be thankful for in destroying ourselves (which is the will of the Devil (John 10:10).

CELEBRATE MORE WITH OUR HEARTS THAN WITH DISHES

On Thanksgiving, in which most Americans generally celebrate with food—let us celebrate with our hearts.

Let us celebrate with truth. Let us celebrate by worshiping our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ, by offering Him our lives. Take a moment (or many moments) to realize the Christian walk of thankfulness and surrender is a moment-by-moment decision that is made consciously, not accidentally or coincidentally. None of us are perfect at placing His will first, including myself. But we are called to live higher than celebrating a holiday for only one day by eating more. We are called to live every single day by giving God the glory in everything we do, think, and say (1 Corinthians 10:31).

And… we all fail, miserably.

Yet, God’s grace abounds and He is merciful.

A PRACTICE OF BECOMING MORE LIKE CHRIST

Let us repent of not being more intentional and work hard at what must be done to be more intentional with our hearts. Let Thanksgiving not merely be a day in November, but every day of our lives. Let turkey (or any food) not be the way we recognize such a day, but let Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and resurrection from the dead be the reason for our thankfulness for every good thing in our lives. It’s a practice that requires determination, humility, patience, and surrender, but that’s exactly what Jesus’ whole human life reflected a posture of, wasn’t it?

He was determined to carry out the will of His Father; humbled to do what only He could do by taking off His glory and putting on flesh (Philippians 2:6-11); He was patient and truthful with every sinner He ever met, and He surrendered His will to the Father even when God didn’t remove the cup from the end of His human life.

OUR EXEMPLAR IS OUR REASON FOR EVERY DAY LIVING

Jesus manifested every characteristic we’re called to master as followers of Him who did what He did when He didn’t have to. We have a responsibility as people who receive Jesus as Lord, to be a light in the darkness and salt of the earth for others to witness what Jesus did for us, by how they see Him living through us. We can be reminders for everyone to see the God who gives us all a reason to be thankful. Our Savior lives! Jesus sits at the right hand of God in a place of honor and authority, and He is worthy of our lives in every way. Let us be thankful—not merely with food, but with our entire being; not just today, but always.

May our lives be pleasing in His sight as we strive to be more like Christ. May thanksgiving be deep in our hearts, and not merely on our calendars. In Jesus’ name!

CONNECT WITH ME

If this article spoke to you, would you let me know? You can share your thoughts with me privately by sending a message through my contact page. Or you can post your thoughts publicly in the comments section below. If you’d like to receive future published articles, please subscribe to this blog, and/or follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Threads, and Pinterest. If you know anyone this article might bless, would you share it with them also? Please let me know if there’s a topic any of you would like me to write an article about that would help you on your faith journey. Thanks so much for reading!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF GOD’S PRESENCE

If our heart is facing the right direction, thankfulness and gratitude are close by, and in overflow.

Life is full of surprises. Some good, others not so much. God allows both to occur to everyone. He rains on the righteous and the unrighteous alike. He loves everyone, but not everyone loves Him. Thankfulness requires an attitude of humility to draw to mind that things could be worse, especially when they’re not. Recognizing a blessing for what it is—a gift from God—requires that we see our life’s circumstances without spiritual blindness. Thankfulness is the acknowledgement of God’s presence and involvement in our lives; that while His spiritual entity is physically invisible, the fruit produced by His presence itself is louder and more obvious than anything else in our tangible world.

OUR TIME IS SHORT

We don’t have as much time we as we may think we do. Time is short; life is but a vapor (James 4:14). It’s a theme I’ve touched upon multiple times on this blog this year. We don’t have the luxury of knowing when, or even how, we will eventually die. Perhaps God keeps that knowledge from us to help us make better spiritual choices resulting in a more intentional life. Perhaps a secret to not allowing us to know when our time is up is to teach us to be thankful in ways that produces the type of fruit that points back to Him.

OUR FREEDOM OF CHOICE IS OUR FREEDOM TO CHOOSE GOD

God, in His graciousness, means to influence us to place stronger effort into our day-to-day decisions. He wants our hearts to be for Him, first and foremost, but He allows us the time and space and gives us the freedom to believe time is in our favor to use as we will (which wastes it), or conversely, the freedom to understand with wisdom that the time He gives has the power to enable us to submit to an alternative perspective, which views time as a resource intended to be permeated by His will, in all its sovereignty, in the faith that it will have its way with our temporary lives, impacting others with eternal rewards giving all glory and honor to God through Christ.

There’s gratitude to be had when we learn to trust that God’s will is better than anything we can understand. When our spiritual maturity has reached a level where we learn to utilize our freedom of choice for the purpose of surrendering our will for His, it transforms and humbles our outlook, allowing us to appreciate the truth that what He wants for us is better than we could ever want for ourselves.

FUNDAMENTAL IDEA OF THANKFULNESS

This could be the fundamental idea behind what it is to be thankful: To desire His will above ours, to recognize our time is short (and resist wasting it), and for that realization to convict us (by the grace of God) to surrender our desires in favor of pursuing the Kingdom of God and invite the Holy Spirit to take charge of our lives (our thoughts, actions, and words).

Only then, when we fully understand (to the degree that we can as flawed humans) how choice works, do we appreciate how freedom of choice can coincide with God’s sovereign will. His will does not render our will as nonexistent, nor does it take away the underlying truth that our choice is truly ours; rather, it shines a light on the facet of reality where God’s omniscience and omnipotence makes it possible for us to uniquely make a choice that is ours, while also being His (through the work of the Holy Spirit by faith). And that is a cause for grand thankfulness and gratitude, because left to our own will, we would only destroy ourselves by our sin. There would be nothing to be thankful for in destroying ourselves (which is the will of the Devil (John 10:10).

CELEBRATE MORE WITH OUR HEARTS THAN WITH DISHES

On Thanksgiving, in which most Americans generally celebrate with food and high expectations—let us celebrate with our hearts and no expectations.

Let us celebrate with truth. Let us celebrate by worshiping our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ, by offering Him our lives. Take a moment (or many moments) to realize the Christian walk of thankfulness and surrender is a moment-by-moment decision that is made consciously, not accidentally or coincidentally. None of us are perfect at placing His will first, including myself. But we are called to live higher than celebrating a holiday for only one day by eating more. We are called to live every single day by giving God the glory in everything we do, think, and say (1 Corinthians 10:31).

And… we all fail, miserably.

Yet, God’s grace abounds and He is merciful.

A PRACTICE OF BECOMING MORE LIKE CHRIST

Let us repent of not being more intentional and work hard at what must be done to be more intentional with our hearts. Let Thanksgiving not merely be a day in November, but every day of our lives. Let turkey (or any food) not be the way we recognize such a day, but let Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and resurrection from the dead be the reason for our thankfulness for every good thing in our lives. It’s a practice that requires determination, humility, patience, and surrender, but that’s exactly what Jesus’ whole human life reflected a posture of, wasn’t it?

He was determined to carry out the will of His Father; humbled to do what only He could do by taking off His glory and putting on flesh (Philippians 2:6-11); He was patient and truthful with every sinner He ever met, and He surrendered His will to the Father even when God didn’t remove the cup from the end of His human life.

OUR EXEMPLAR IS OUR REASON FOR EVERY DAY LIVING

Jesus manifested every characteristic we’re called to master as followers of Him who did what He did when He didn’t have to. We have a responsibility as people who receive Jesus as Lord, to be a light in the darkness and salt of the earth for others to witness what Jesus did for us, by how they see Him living through us. We can be reminders for everyone to see the God who gives us all a reason to be thankful. Our Savior lives! Jesus sits at the right hand of God in a place of honor and authority, and He is worthy of our lives in every way. Let us be thankful—not merely with food, but with our entire being; not just today, but always.

May our lives be pleasing in His sight as we strive to be more like Christ. May thanksgiving be deep in our hearts, and not merely on our plates. In Jesus’ name!

CONNECT WITH ME

If this article spoke to you, would you let me know? You can share your thoughts with me privately by sending a message through my contact page. Or you can post your thoughts publicly in the comments section below. If you’d like to receive future published articles, please subscribe to this blog, and/or follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Threads, and Pinterest. If you know anyone this article might bless, would you share it with them also? Please let me know if there’s a topic any of you would like me to write an article about that would help you on your faith journey. Thanks so much for reading!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF GOD’S PRESENCE

If our heart is facing the right direction, thankfulness and gratitude are close by, and in overflow.

Life is full of surprises. Some good, others not so much. God allows both to occur to everyone. He rains on the righteous and the unrighteous alike. He loves everyone, but not everyone loves Him. Thankfulness requires an attitude of humility to draw to mind that things could be worse, especially when they’re not. Recognizing a blessing for what it is—a gift from God—requires that we see our life’s circumstances without spiritual blindness. Thankfulness is the acknowledgement of God’s presence and involvement in our lives; that while His spiritual entity is physically invisible, the fruit produced by His presence itself is louder and more obvious than anything else in our tangible world.

OUR TIME IS SHORT

We don’t have as much time we as we may think we do. Time is short; life is but a vapor (James 4:14). It’s a theme I’ve touched upon multiple times on this blog this year. We don’t have the luxury of knowing when, or even how, we will eventually die. Perhaps God keeps that knowledge from us to help us make better spiritual choices resulting in a more intentional life. Perhaps a secret to not allowing us to know when our time is up is to teach us to be thankful in ways that produces the type of fruit that points back to Him.

OUR FREEDOM OF CHOICE IS OUR FREEDOM TO CHOOSE GOD

God, in His graciousness, means to influence us to place stronger effort into our day-to-day decisions. He wants our hearts to be for Him, first and foremost, but He allows us the time and space and gives us the freedom to believe time is in our favor to use as we will (which wastes it), or conversely, the freedom to understand with wisdom that the time He gives has the power to enable us to submit to an alternative perspective, which views time as a resource intended to be permeated by His will, in all its sovereignty, in the faith that it will have its way with our temporary lives, impacting others with eternal rewards giving all glory and honor to God through Christ.

There’s gratitude to be had when we learn to trust that God’s will is better than anything we can understand. When our spiritual maturity has reached a level where we learn to utilize our freedom of choice for the purpose of surrendering our will for His, it transforms and humbles our outlook, allowing us to appreciate the truth that what He wants for us is better than we could ever want for ourselves.

FUNDAMENTAL IDEA OF THANKFULNESS

This could be the fundamental idea behind what it is to be thankful: To desire His will above ours, to recognize our time is short (and resist wasting it), and for that realization to convict us (by the grace of God) to surrender our desires in favor of pursuing the Kingdom of God and invite the Holy Spirit to take charge of our lives (our thoughts, actions, and words).

Only then, when we fully understand (to the degree that we can as flawed humans) how choice works, do we appreciate how freedom of choice can coincide with God’s sovereign will. His will does not render our will as nonexistent, nor does it take away the underlying truth that our choice is truly ours; rather, it shines a light on the facet of reality where God’s omniscience and omnipotence makes it possible for us to uniquely make a choice that is ours, while also being His (through the work of the Holy Spirit by faith). And that is a cause for grand thankfulness and gratitude, because left to our own will, we would only destroy ourselves by our sin. There would be nothing to be thankful for in destroying ourselves (which is the will of the Devil (John 10:10).

CELEBRATE MORE WITH OUR HEARTS THAN WITH DISHES

On Thanksgiving, in which most Americans generally celebrate with food—let us celebrate with our hearts.

Let us celebrate with truth. Let us celebrate by worshiping our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ, by offering Him our lives. Take a moment (or many moments) to realize the Christian walk of thankfulness and surrender is a moment-by-moment decision that is made consciously, not accidentally or coincidentally. None of us are perfect at placing His will first, including myself. But we are called to live higher than celebrating a holiday for only one day by eating more. We are called to live every single day by giving God the glory in everything we do, think, and say (1 Corinthians 10:31).

And… we all fail, miserably.

Yet, God’s grace abounds and He is merciful.

A PRACTICE OF BECOMING MORE LIKE CHRIST

Let us repent of not being more intentional and work hard at what must be done to be more intentional with our hearts. Let Thanksgiving not merely be a day in November, but every day of our lives. Let turkey (or any food) not be the way we recognize such a day, but let Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and resurrection from the dead be the reason for our thankfulness for every good thing in our lives. It’s a practice that requires determination, humility, patience, and surrender, but that’s exactly what Jesus’ whole human life reflected a posture of, wasn’t it?

He was determined to carry out the will of His Father; humbled to do what only He could do by taking off His glory and putting on flesh (Philippians 2:6-11); He was patient and truthful with every sinner He ever met, and He surrendered His will to the Father even when God didn’t remove the cup from the end of His human life.

OUR EXEMPLAR IS OUR REASON FOR EVERY DAY LIVING

Jesus manifested every characteristic we’re called to master as followers of Him who did what He did when He didn’t have to. We have a responsibility as people who receive Jesus as Lord, to be a light in the darkness and salt of the earth for others to witness what Jesus did for us, by how they see Him living through us. We can be reminders for everyone to see the God who gives us all a reason to be thankful. Our Savior lives! Jesus sits at the right hand of God in a place of honor and authority, and He is worthy of our lives in every way. Let us be thankful—not merely with food, but with our entire being; not just today, but always.

May our lives be pleasing in His sight as we strive to be more like Christ. May thanksgiving be deep in our hearts, and not merely on our plates.

CONNECT WITH ME

If this article spoke to you, would you let me know? You can share your thoughts with me privately by sending a message through my contact page. Or you can post your thoughts publicly in the comments section below. If you’d like to receive future published articles, please subscribe to this blog, and/or follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Threads, and Pinterest. If you know anyone this article might bless, would you share it with them also? Please let me know if there’s a topic any of you would like me to write an article about that would help you on your faith journey. Thanks so much for reading!

Image by Lenka Novotná from Pixabay