Thanksgiving

ByHal Hammons

The problem with having a day on the calendar specifically dedicated to the giving of thanks is twofold: one, we are tempted to save our expressions of thanksgiving for “the day”; two, when that day arrives, we wind up repeating ourselves.  How can something so sacred be ignored and cliché at the same time?  And how do we avoid them both?

Perhaps a good first step is to read what the Bible says about thanksgiving.  Here are a few passages for your consideration.

Psalm 26:6-7 portrays thanksgiving as a privilege granted to believers coming before the throne of God, and partners it with worship and evangelism.

Psalm 95:1-2 does much the same, emphasizing the joy that should be in the heart of the worshiper.

Psalm 100:4-5 emphasizes the root cause for our blessings — the goodness of God and His faithfulness in showing that goodness to His people.

Psalm 116:17 pairs thanksgiving with the phrase, “call upon the name of the LORD.”  The same phrase occurs three other times in the psalm.  In passages such as Psalm 18:3 and Acts 22:16, it refers to the trust of the believer in the saving power of the God he serves; here, though, the believer has already been saved.  Therefore the believer is thankful not only for what he has received, but also for the provision he fully expects from God in the future.

We cannot pass through without referencing Philippians 4:6-7.  Thanksgiving puts our current needs and requests into context.  We find peace in our troubles by remembering all God has done for us in the past.

We cannot allow “Thanksgiving” to be merely the name of one particular day.  “Thanksgiving” for the believer is a way of life, an attitude of heart.  It may be trite to say so, but I will do it anyway: Let us be thankful this holiday season, and let it remind us how thankful we should be every day of the year.

 

Similar Posts

Animals

ByHal Hammons

A Buddhist monk was chastening me and other animal-harvesters the other day on Facebook.  We humans are arrogant, he says, to think that eight million species are here on earth simply to serve our needs and wishes, that our abuse of “other animals” is completely unjustified.

 

Wallow

ByHal Hammons

When I feel ill, all I want to do is wallow.  Just sit and groan.  It’s not a cry for attention — usually I’m alone when I make my pathetic whimpers of discomfort.  I’m feeling sorry for myself.  It’s pathetic, but at least it’s private.  As we say in my family, “If you’re going to…

Bringing Down the Wall

ByHal Hammons

The Berlin Wall has now officially been down longer than it was up.  That’s astonishing.  I remember 1989 quite well.  The Cold War that had dominated my childhood was officially over.  The dreaded symbol of oppression had been toppled.  It was the end of an age.  For my entire life I had thought of geopolitics entirely in terms of the United States vs. the Soviet Union.  And suddenly, it wasn’t.  The tearing down of the wall was the biggest symbol of that transformation. 

 

Title

ByHal Hammons

Alfred Hitchcock was fond of telling journalists of his long-standing plan to make a movie in which Cary Grant was on the run from the bad guys and had to hide in Abraham Lincoln’s nose (the one at Mount Rushmore, of course).  He would give himself away by sneezing.  The film could be entitled The Man in Lincoln’s Nose. 

 

The Small Things

ByHal Hammons

Some people have five talents.  They have all the skill, all the charisma, all the opportunities.  It seems as though service in Jesus’ kingdom comes naturally to them.  We are not surprised to hear when they have done great things in His name.  We expect it out of five-talent people

Some people have two talents.  They are not as privileged as the five-talent people, obviously.  But we still admire them.  They get the most out of what they have.  They do not envy the five-talent people for their success and the glory that comes with success.  They just do their job and do it well.  Sometimes they even wake up to find they have become five-talent people themselves.  And good for them.  Good for us. And then there are those with only one talent. 

Relax

ByHal Hammons

It was Election Day, and I had two choices.  I could go vote, then go to the office and pretend to try to get my work done when in fact I was just hovering over election “news” that came across my Facebook feed; or I could go vote, then take the day off and play board games with Tracie.  Guess which door I picked.