A True Pilgrim !

Lost amongst all the revision of history and political correctness today is the FACT that those Pilgrims of the first Thanksgiving were believers in Jesus Christ. They have been villified for various things by liberal “historians” and certainly they weren’t, as none of us, perfect but they were our spiritual ancestors and are worthy of our admiration. They were what we call “Separatists” from the Church of England. They wanted out of that church since it had abandoned Scripture for the most part and just sought to follow the Word of God without the politics so often common to such large religious organizations.

Last night as we had our Thanksgiving Eve service I had read a quote that I’d like to summarize about those spiritual siblings of ours from 1620. They dug seven times as many graves as the number of huts they built yet they still found it needful to set aside a day for Thanksgiving ! What a lesson for us all, huh?  These first celebrants of what we call Thanksgiving faced incredible hardships, fears, etc and yet they still could thank the Lord through them all.  They fleshed out what Paul penned to the church of Thessalonica:  “In EVERYTHING give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning YOU.” (5:18)

So what about YOU this holiday ? Could you do the same today?   Its easy  to be grateful for the blessings we do enjoy from a gracious God but how about the  trials?  They also are being used of God to better us.  When the “graves” grow larger in number than the “huts” can you still be thankful? As a Christian, I submit you can since we have a God that can use any “grave” for His glory and your good.  In your own strength and insight you can’t, but in His its achievable.  And the Bible tells us we have everything that pertains un,to life and godliness (2Pt.1:3). All we need, no matter what the “grave” !

Anyone can sit around a table at Thanksgiving and thank God for the “good stuff” but when you can truly even for the “graves” its shows your faith in God is operative !!  That you’re a true pilgrim, just a passin’ through – You’re seeing Jesus not just the junk !!  And that my friends makes God thankful for your relationship with Him.