I know that I am a few days early. This year we are really looking forward to Thanksgiving. We are told in Scripture to count our blessings Ps 103:2 "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits." David repeatedly said how he would remember the Lord's works of old. If we are to have a grateful heart all of the time why do we need to focus on being thankful to God on Thanksgiving? The answer is that holidays make us stop and focus on what we have, more than likely, taken for granted. If we really stop and think about what we have to be thankful for and write it down in a notebook I think we would have a page if not pages.
I remember one of my sons came to me with an entitled attitude and that was the last time he tried that. :) He felt like he was entitled for me to give him something he wanted. I reminded him that when we are born into this world we are entitled to one thing because we are born sinners. We are entitled to hell. Everything from salvation to material things is a gift from God. The fact we wake up in the morning is a gift from God. We are not guaranteed to a long life. God doesn't owe you an easy life or to give you all that you want. To say that we are entitled to hell is not a shocking statement and neither is it to say we are born sinners. In reality, no one is pushed into sinning. People are by nature selfish and prideful all on their own. No one teaches us to be selfish, to lie, to steal, to gossip, to be mean to someone and to not take responsibility for their actions and make it right. We are having instead to teach children how to do what is right. We are having to teach children to be honest, to be kind, to not gossip and how to ask forgiveness when they have done wrong. I mention this because the realization of this truth makes your list of what to be thankful even longer. Especially if you have asked God to forgive you of your sins and thanking Jesus for paying for your sins with His blood. Jesus took on Himself, who was sinless, your sins and was punished for them and gave you His righteousness so that you can have a relationship with your Creator and Lord. Romans 4: 24b "It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." When God looks at you He sees not your sins but Christ's righteousness. You can never earn your way to salvation. It is a gift. Ephesian 2:8-9 "For by grace you have been saved through faith. and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." Deciding in your heart to follow Him all of the days of your life. Focusing on our salvation alone we can come up with a page of things to be thankful for.
We have a choice we can focus on all the disappoints in our lives and what we don't have or we can focus on all that the Lord has given. For instance, you may not be in your dream job but you can be thankful that you have a job and you can pay your bill and have food on your table. You may be eating beans and rice everyday for a month but you can be thankful there is food on your table. People criticize the children of Israel when they grumbled against the Lord because they were eating manna for every meal in Exodus 16:3. We honestly need to be quiet. Pay attention to your family after Thanksgiving when the turkey shows up in meal after meal for days or weeks. :)
The point of this post is to say we have a lot to be thankful for because we serve an awesome God who loves us and sustains us in every sense of the word 'to sustain'. May this Thanksgiving cause your heart and the hearts of your family to overflow in thanksgiving to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for all that He has done from saving us to caring for us in the everyday needs to the people in your lives. Friends and family are also a gift from God. Let us enjoy celebrating and remember our Great God this Thursday! Happy Thanksgiving from Lentini family!! :)
I remember one of my sons came to me with an entitled attitude and that was the last time he tried that. :) He felt like he was entitled for me to give him something he wanted. I reminded him that when we are born into this world we are entitled to one thing because we are born sinners. We are entitled to hell. Everything from salvation to material things is a gift from God. The fact we wake up in the morning is a gift from God. We are not guaranteed to a long life. God doesn't owe you an easy life or to give you all that you want. To say that we are entitled to hell is not a shocking statement and neither is it to say we are born sinners. In reality, no one is pushed into sinning. People are by nature selfish and prideful all on their own. No one teaches us to be selfish, to lie, to steal, to gossip, to be mean to someone and to not take responsibility for their actions and make it right. We are having instead to teach children how to do what is right. We are having to teach children to be honest, to be kind, to not gossip and how to ask forgiveness when they have done wrong. I mention this because the realization of this truth makes your list of what to be thankful even longer. Especially if you have asked God to forgive you of your sins and thanking Jesus for paying for your sins with His blood. Jesus took on Himself, who was sinless, your sins and was punished for them and gave you His righteousness so that you can have a relationship with your Creator and Lord. Romans 4: 24b "It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." When God looks at you He sees not your sins but Christ's righteousness. You can never earn your way to salvation. It is a gift. Ephesian 2:8-9 "For by grace you have been saved through faith. and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." Deciding in your heart to follow Him all of the days of your life. Focusing on our salvation alone we can come up with a page of things to be thankful for.
We have a choice we can focus on all the disappoints in our lives and what we don't have or we can focus on all that the Lord has given. For instance, you may not be in your dream job but you can be thankful that you have a job and you can pay your bill and have food on your table. You may be eating beans and rice everyday for a month but you can be thankful there is food on your table. People criticize the children of Israel when they grumbled against the Lord because they were eating manna for every meal in Exodus 16:3. We honestly need to be quiet. Pay attention to your family after Thanksgiving when the turkey shows up in meal after meal for days or weeks. :)
The point of this post is to say we have a lot to be thankful for because we serve an awesome God who loves us and sustains us in every sense of the word 'to sustain'. May this Thanksgiving cause your heart and the hearts of your family to overflow in thanksgiving to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for all that He has done from saving us to caring for us in the everyday needs to the people in your lives. Friends and family are also a gift from God. Let us enjoy celebrating and remember our Great God this Thursday! Happy Thanksgiving from Lentini family!! :)