By: Mike Kelly
Retired Pastor
In one way, it is wonderful that we have a special day dedicated to Giving Thanks. In another way, it is kind of sad that we had to designate a day for Giving Thanks when it should be an everyday, even minute-by-minute part of our lives.
1 Thes 5:16-18 “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
As I was preparing this, it occurred to me that not everyone is giving thanks this week to the Only True God. As a Believer, when I think of giving thanks, I think of God.
“Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.” (1 Chronicles 16:34). It seems wired in and a no-brainer that our thanks go to Him but not everyone is a Believer. Who do non-Christians thank?
Maybe Mohammed, maybe Buddha, maybe Amaterasu, The Dagda, Odin, The Jade Emperor? Maybe Lady Luck? Their Lucky Stars? Mother Earth? Maybe Karma? Maybe Nobody? Maybe they just are thankful for their good fortune in this chaotic out-of-control world they think they live in.
If I’m not careful, I’ll sink into my Irish Melancholy. To think of this Thanksgiving Day and to have no one to be thankful to. No one you consider worthy of your allegiance and thankfulness. No one you feel is looking out for you. That’s just loneliness personified. No one who loves you enough to care about your welfare.
I have a friend, Pastor Chris Avell, who asks a great question of people who don’t believe in Jesus. What has their god ever given them that cost him/her/it something?
If your god has all knowledge, then when he dispenses some, it doesn’t cost him anything because he still has all knowledge. If your god has all power, what does it cost him to do something for you?
Nothing since he still has all the power. If your god owns everything, what does it cost him to give you something since he still has everything?
But our Christian God has only one son, and when He gave him, he gave all He had. When Christ died on that cross, he and the Father were separated by Sin and lost to one another.
Even knowing His plan to forgive and restore Jesus, that time of separation was costly beyond belief. The Father had to turn his back on his only son so that humans might be redeemed.
They had never in all eternity been separated. We will never be able to understand the cost of that act. No other religion has such an example of sacrifice …or love.
And everything we have is given to us by God. Everything! “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
James 1:17. “For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. 2 Corinthians 9:10.
And then, there’s Deuteronomy 8:18: “But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth…”. Even our ability to earn money is given by Him to us. We are dependent on Him for everything…thus, we need to be thankful to him for everything.
Rejoice and be thankful!
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Mike Kelly is the founding pastor of Bryan’s Grace Community Church (retired) and Board Chairman of Bryan’s Sanctuary Homeless Shelter and Williams County’s Compassion (free) Medical Clinic.