Ephesians 5:20
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Mine was spent up in Uxbridge, Massachusetts at my brother-in-law’s parents house. We had a lot of fun. And, to top it all off, on Thanksgiving day it was 70 degrees. That is a far cry from what it was two years ago when we went up there for the same holiday (29 degrees and snowing)…You gotta love New England!
Many people equate Thanksgiving with turkey, cranberries, and hangout time with family. As christians, we should be pressed to recognize why we celebrate the day in the first place. To celebrate the escape of religious persecution was the original intent. Those days are long over now and we as Americans are privileged to live in a land of religious freedom. The verse that kept resonating in my head all weekend was Ephesians 5:20: “giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We are commanded to be “filled with the Sprit (The Holy Spirit)” in verse 18 and then a few bi-products of being spirit-filled are mentioned immediately following, including being thankful. Of course we as Jesus’ followers are in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit the moment we commit our lives to Him (Ephesians 1:13 and 1 Cor. 12:13). But being Spirit-filled is different. This is an obedience issue and we all know that a lack of obedience is common place within our every day lives. And don’t we want to be obedient to the God who has rescued us? That is a rhetorical question. So, out of obedience to Christ, we should be more thankful: Thankful for our lives, the salvation we have in Jesus, our spouses, our children, our relationships, our religious freedom, our ministry, our jobs, our education, etc…
Upon that note, THANK YOU to God for everthing he has given me and THANK YOU to all of YOU who are a part of Aletheia.