God’s turn to say what He’s thankful for about YOU

As the Thanksgiving holiday weekend comes to a close I’d like to share a quick thought with you about something intriguing in the Bible about God and thanks.  Wednesday night I preached at our Thanksgiving eve service about how some people have a tradition of saying what they are thankful for.  Everyone around the table gets an opportunity to voice this but what if God were at the table, visible to us and able to be heard by us. What would He say?   We have an answer to this !!!

As you read Paul’s letters the openings are often filled with the same wording: “grace & peace” and almost exclusively in his epistles he has something he is thankful in his readers for.  But two traits stand  out especially that he is thankful about: [1] for their love for each other & [2] their faith in their Lord !    What is important to remember is Paul was writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit when he expressed these things, so that means not only was Paul grateful for these traits but so was God, yet moreso !

The one passage in particular which sums it up is 2Thess.1:3, “We are bound to THANK God always for you, brethren, as it is meet; because that your faith groweth exceedingly; and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth.”   When you treat your fellow believer well, you treat one of His children well !  He is thankful for this and for you. It should give us pause to think how we can do better towards our brothers and sisters in Christ then.  Could we pray more for them? Verbalize more concern? How is that job search coming? How have you been feeling lately?  I’m sending them a note of encouragement, an email to just say I prayed for you today !  There are so many things we can do to get out of our whiny, self-absorbed attitudes and show others Christ’s love if we take the time and move into action.

But the predominant trait mentioned that God would say He’s thankful for is when you TRUST Him !  How do you feel when someone believes in you? How about when they don’t?  How do you think God feels at these times?    An illustration that came to my mind was if we are older and have learned about something and we know how to do it well and a  younger person refuses to listen or trust your ideas about it how would you feel?  And what if they did heed your know how?  How would you feel then about them?   Well, “God is the only One Who never ever learned anything” as I often quote a former pastor friend of mine.  When we take His advice & follow His Word, well He is very thankful for you !

What would He say around the Thanksgiving table? I’m grateful when you treat My “kids” well, and when you respect Me enough to trust Me ! A good lesson to work on in our lives to make Him truly grateful for YOU !!!