A Sacrifice of Thanksgiving

eDevotion

Encouragement for Your Daily Walk with God

What do you think God wants more of from us? 

More singing [hymns or contemporary]?

More prayer?

More witnessing?

More church attendance?

All of these things are well and good. It behooves a Christ follower to do them. [Did I just use the word behooves - yikes!]

Allow me to put something at the top of your list - THANKSGIVING! First and foremost He wants a thankful heart. In Old Testament times, thankfulness  was required, and was built into the sacrificial system in the form of the Peace Offering. 

NOTE: “There are three kinds of peace-offering: (1) the thank-offering; 2) the votive-offering; and (3) the free-will offering. The thank-offering is a response to acts of divine beneficence; the votive and the free-will sacrifices are connected with the expectation of benefit; but the significance of the thank-offering is wider than that of the other two.” [Quote from the Jewish Encyclopedia]

A sacrifice is something that takes effort; it costs us. Have you ever asked yourself why the Scriptures stress thanksgiving so much? It’s because thanksgiving comes as a result of having received something. Thanksgiving is the proper expression of a Christ follower who daily - and constantly -  receives the “good and perfect gift[s]” from God. [James 1:17]

Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High. Psalm 50:14

Thanksgiving: More Than the Launch of the Christmas Holiday

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

Whether you think of thanksgiving with a capital T [the holiday] or with a small T [the expression of gratitude], THANKSGIVING is much more than  the beginning of the Christmas season! In fact, it’s much more than the madness of “Black Friday.” 

Theologically, thanksgiving is a state of mind or a condition of the heart. It is an attitude or, better yet, a lifestyle. There are many, many Scriptures to substantiate my claim, and here are just a few of them:

• Psalm 100:4, 5 - we are to enter His gates with thanksgiving

• Colossians 2:7 - we are to be rooted, built up, strengthened in faith while overflowing in thanksgiving

• Colossians 3:17 - we are to do everything in Jesus’ name with thanksgiving

• Philippians 4:6 - we are to pray with thanksgiving

• Psalm 105:1, 2 - we are to call on His name, sing to Him, make His name known to the nations with thanksgiving

• 1st Thessalonians 5:18 - we are to give thanks in every circumstance of life 

By now you get the point, don’t you? The life of a Christ follower is saturated with thanksgiving. Why is that, you ask? Essentially, the Christ follower understands his/her great relief — knowing that their sin deserved death as a payment, which has been PAID IN FULL by a God who is rich in grace and mercy. 

A Christ follower has much to be thankful for; not the least of which is getting to serve and love, and be loved by God! 

Thankful for “Precious” Things

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God

There is an ancient Chinese legend about a group of elderly, cultured gentlemen who met to exchange wisdom and drink tea. Each host tried to outdo the other in finding the finest, most costly tea leaves to create exotic blends that would impress and evoke the admiration of his guests. 

One day, they met at the home of the most venerable and respected elder of the group. In unprecedented ceremony, he retrieved a golden box and proceeded to extract the perfect measure of tea leaves. After drinking the host’s concoction, they praised it as a most exquisite tea.   

The host smiled and said, "The tea you have found so delightful is the same tea our peasants drink. I hope it will be a reminder to all that the good things in life are not necessarily the rarest or the most costly.”

A Christ follower knows that the best things in life are right in front of us; precious things, like our redemption, our spouses and families, our church families, the gift of life - and SO MUCH MORE! 

Our loving God has given us many “precious” gifts. They are everywhere around us. Let’s be thankful and cherish them as such.  

Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ [Ephesians 5:20].

Be Humble and Give Thanks

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God

I've traveled to Africa on several occasions and love learning about its unique, tribal culture. One thing that impressed me is the remarkable way some tribes express their gratitude and/or thankfulness.  

The Masai tribe expresses thanks by placing their foreheads on the ground and saying, "My head is in the dirt." Another African Tribe communicates gratitude by sitting for a long time in front of the hut of the individual whom they want to thank, saying, "I sit on the ground before you."

These tribes practice what many in the West have forgotten: A core attitude of thanksgiving is humility. Their way of expressing gratitude clearly represents that.

There is a strong connection between thanksgiving and humility which, perhaps, is often overlooked. Thankful people recognize their need. They are humbled by the generosity of the giver. 

A Christ follower understands this as well. Recognizing their need, and the generosity of THE Giver, they are humbled by every “good and perfect gift” that comes “from above...from the Father...” [James 1:17].

True humility will be accompanied by gratitude, and the grateful will grow in the attractive characteristic of humility.  

And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. Revelation 7:11-12 

Be Wise - Be Thankful

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God

A man went to a wise sage and complained, "Life is unbearable. There are nine of us living in one room. What can I do?"

The sage told him, "Take your goat into the room with you." The man was incredulous, but the sage insisted. "Do as I say and come back in a week."

A week later the man came back looking more distraught than before. "We cannot stand it," he told the sage. "The goat is filthy."

The sage then said, "Go home and let the goat out. And come back in a week."

A radiant man returned to the sage a week later, exclaiming, "Life is beautiful. We enjoy every minute of it now that there's no goat — only the nine of us."

My way of describing the scenario above is the “doughnut hole syndrome.” Rather than being thankful with what they had, they focused on what they didn’t have, making them unhappy.

I learned this lesson long ago when my parents taught me this poem:

As you go through life

Make this your goal;

Look at the doughnut

And not the hole!

Thanksgiving—the Holiday is swiftly approaching. I like to say, thanksgiving day is here. It’s good for you to be thankful [Psalm 92:1]. The people I know who are thankful are joyful people - and joyful people are better people.

As Christ followers, make it a practice praising God in thankfulness for who He is and what He can do. He’s deserving of our praise regardless the circumstance. 

I will bless the LORD at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth. Psalms 34:1

Eyes on the Lord and His Word

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

Sometimes the Scripture makes a statement that seems simple yet it is difficult to carry out. Take Paul’s directive to the Galatians Christ followers:

“Walk by [means of] the Spirit...’ Sounds so simple, doesn’t it? We all know what walking is and how to do it. But when combined with the spiritual, we find it difficult to do. 

The structure of the Greek word, peripateoœ, means to “keep on continually walking” in the Spirit. And from the text we understand that the main opposition to that is our own flesh [Galatians 5:17]. 

So we need a strategy to “keep on walking in the Spirit.” What I am about to suggest is nothing new. It’s the age-old discipline of “eyes on the Lord and His Word.”

Strategy 1: A Daily Intake of the Word

The Psalmist declared that the favored man on a godly path delights himself “in the law of the Lord and in His law he meditates day and night” [Psalm 1:1-2]. That doesn’t mean you can’t do anything but read the Bible. The idea is a patient and thorough reflexion of Scripture. That will go a long way in sealing the Word in our heart “that we might not sin against Him” [Psalm 119:11].

Strategy 2: A Renewed Focus on God

The key here is “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” [Romans 12:2). A Christ follower with a renewed focus on God will be the one who worships God - in spirit and in truth. One of my Bible College professors was fond of saying, “Show me a worshiper of God, and I will show you a Christ follower who’s controlled by the Spirit and ready to experience the present hour refreshed from above.”

Walk by the spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. Galatians 5:16

Win Them Over

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God

Between the years of 1861-1865, the United States found itself in the midst of a bitter civil war over many serious matters including the issue of slavery. By the time the South surrendered, over 600,000 lives were lost. Many in the North were so embittered, they wanted the South to pay dearly.

At the end of the war, a group of Southerners gained an audience with President Abraham Lincoln. His gentle, kind and friendly personality quickly softened their hearts, and they left the interview with a deep respect for the President, their former, bitter enemy. Not long afterward, a northern congressman criticized Lincoln for "befriending the enemy." He suggested that they should have been hung as traitors instead of welcoming them.

I love Lincoln's response. He said, "Am I not destroying my enemies by making them my friends?"

There is a great lesson to be learned here. As a Christ follower you will have your share of enemies. In bitterness and anger you can seek their demise. But there is a better way. Retaliate - not with hatred but Spirit-empowered love! Win them over. There is so much work to be done, we need all the help we can get.

Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:20-21