True Thanksgiving
“…when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;” Hebrews 1:3 / “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,” Revelation 1:5
Why when we think of thanksgiving do we tend to jump immediately to thanking God for our physical provision? Food, shelter, clothing. Loved ones. Relationships. Physical healing. Money. Vacations. Answered prayers. Physical safety. Clean water. A car. A new job. A sports win. Making a flight. Getting through traffic. The list goes on. The physical blessings the Lord bestows on us are endless. But don’t some of us have our thanksgiving out of order? Do we not sometimes, if not always, neglect in our thanksgiving to thank God for the most precious blessing of all? How easy it is to focus on what we can see and feel when we say, “Thank you God!” But are we not missing true Thanksgiving when we do not rejoice and praise God for the greatest gift He has ever given us? Some of us have not received and opened this most precious gift. Others of us, like myself, have received and opened the gift yet fall miserably far short in remembering to make this gift the subject of our highest praise to God!
Jesus Christ DIED for this world. He not only died; He died the most gruesome, heinous death that anyone has ever or will ever die. He didn’t just die the most painful death ever physically. He took ALL of humanity’s sins and BORE GOD’S WRATH at us for our sins ON HIMSELF and was separated temporarily from God on the cross FOR US so if we repent and truly believe in Him, we will be saved. We ALL deserve to die and spend forever in hell because we ALL sin and can’t be in God’s holy presence with our sin. Jesus died so we could be restored to God, have a personal relationship with Him on earth as He grows us in His image and prepares us for heaven, and spend forever with Him in heaven. TRUE repentance and faith are followed by a life committed to God.
God gave up His Son for us. Jesus gave up His life for us. Is there anything we should be more thankful for than this? True thanksgiving begins at the cross. Make the Lord your highest praise.