Thanksgiving

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! 2 Corinthians 9:15
As we have just finished our Thanksgiving dinners, and we have sat around hopefully reflecting upon those things for which we ought to give thanks, I would hope that you would take time to think about the God who gives you life. Did you know that the heart beats 100,000 times per day? This happens without our thinking about it. It pumps blood though a system which is all together 60,000 miles long. Over a lifetime, a human heart pumps a million gallons of blood! The Bible tells us that all things are held together by Him (Colossians 1:17) so in reality, each atom that makes up the structure of your body and governs the breaths you take, the heart beating, and other systems that you need to live. Did you take the time to thank Him today?

Many people fail to think about the good things that God has given them. As mentioned above, God has given us life. In America, our poverty is considered wealth in many other countries. If we have clean water to drink, we are better off than 2/3 of the worlds population, yet we fail daily to give God thanks (instead complaining about Marshall water). He has given us air to breathe, eyes to look at His beautiful creation, a nose to smell wonderful scents, and a mouth to eat good foods with. Yet, with that same mouth we often curse the very God who gives us life instead of thanking Him.

The most important thing that we ought to thank God for is the indescribable gift of His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus condescended to us, that is, he left an indescribable place (his heavenly kingdom) to be made in the form of human flesh (Philippians 2:7) and to make his dwelling among us. The very Lord of the universe, who spoke the creation into being, who holds the universe together by his powerful Word, came down to this planet, not as a powerful, fully formed man, but as a tiny egg that developed in a human mother's womb. He did this to demonstrate the love of God for us. You see, Jesus Christ came to this planet not to be born, but to die. He spent thirty-three years here, living a perfect life, teaching, preaching, and healing. He was the manifestation of God, a perfect reflection of who God is. And the ultimate demonstration of God's love for us was when he paid the penalty in full for the sins we have committed.

The death of Christ makes no sense to us if we do not understand why he died. Ultimately, Christ died because of our sin. The Bible says that God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we could be made the righteousness of God in Him (1 Corinthians 5:21) You see, whenever we have lied, stolen, hated, not loved or thanked God for all things, we have sinned. God is Holy, and he cannot have sin in his presence. So Jesus Christ came to be made that sin on our behalf so we could enjoy God's righteousness. To put it simply: Christ paid the fine that we owed God due to our sin. What we must due is to accept the fine that he paid on our behalf. The best way we can thank God is to stop relying on our own good works to please Him.

As we enter into this Christmas season, I encourage you to consider the gifts we give our own children. We give them because we love our children. Because they are gifts, the only payment we expect from them is the giving of thanks. God has given us the gift of His Son Jesus Christ. He has given Him as a payment for our sins, so that we could have righteousness. This is a gift that is indescribable because it is not something that we can gain on our own. We cannot gain it through baptism, being a member of a church, doing good works, or through any religious system. We gain the gift by simply turning from our own path and turning to God. This is called repentance, a 180 degree turn from self and sin to God. Like a child on Christmas day, look to the gift you Father in heaven has given you, open wide your hands, and receive it. It is the best gift ever; for it is eternal, it never loses its value, and, by His Spirit, it is renewed every single day. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!