Food for Thought this Thanksgiving Day

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

I hope today is a day filled with much joy and family, but most importantly, thankfulness. There is so much we can be thankful for; a roof over our heads, family, our jobs and a good solid church. The bulk of this post will be written by Mr. Archer! I hope you guys enjoy what he has to share and you can definitely look forward to reading more of his work soon.

“Well, my friends, that special day is upon us once again. All around the country, families are gathering, grocery shelves are emptying, and people are giving thanks -not the least of which those turkeys that avoided the chopping block this year.

This is probably one of my favorite holidays of the year because it is a day which, by design, is intended to lift our minds from a place of hubris and self-aggrandizement to humility and gratitude. We are so often fixated on ourselves, so frequently caught up in our own achievements and aspirations, that we forget that everything we have is ultimately given to us.

Think about it, the device on which you are currently reading this post was likely designed, crafted, and made available by someone other than you. Granted, the money with which you purchased it (assuming it wasn’t a gift) may have been earned by you. Nevertheless, the faculties, abilities, and opportunities by which you were able to earn it were given. We didn’t just snap our fingers and create ourselves the way we are today as if we were a sim.

Consider the men and women who make sacrifices -even those who have and do put their lives on the line every day for our safety and well-being. From our armed forces to our local law enforcement, our nurses and doctors to our firefighters and school teachers, we ought to be thankful. From the farmers who grew or raised the food you will be eating this evening to the truckers who’ve made sure that it arrived promptly at your local supermarket, you can be thankful. There are family, friends, pastors, mentors, or role models who once or actively pour into our lives, shaping and guiding us into the kind of people we ought to be, and for that, we should, again, be thankful.

However, above all, we ought to be most thankful for God, the God, and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who (if you are reading this now) has not dealt with you according to your sin.

He created all things and has blessed us with everything we have, not to mention those good things we enjoy daily. The greatest thing He gave us (mankind) was the provision of His Son Jesus, who willfully and obediently entered this world as the God-man, fulfilling the law we were supposed to keep but break. He was then offered up on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins which He took upon Himself so that we (His people) could have His perfect righteousness. This is the gospel, the good and greatest news!

If you are in a saving relationship with Him, you have been raised from death to life by His grace and are supremely privileged in that you’ve received His love, been spared His just wrath, and get to serve Him now. Better yet, one day, when this life is passed, you will enjoy eternity with Him in the life to come.

So as you go about your thanksgiving day, whether with family, friends, or alone, I pray it’d be a special one. I pray you humbly consider all that you have and all you can be thankful for personally, remembering that our thankfulness ought never to be directed at the wind or merely even at people, but also and ultimately at the God who provides all things. With Him, in Him, and through Him is true joy attained. Happy Thanksgiving!”

“In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

1 Thessalonians 5:18