Thanksgiving shapes us to be grateful people.
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It was a great Thanksgiving Sunday. At Pastor Jones’ request, Judy Holcomb prepared cards of Thanksgiving for the Congregation. At the beginning of the service Pastor asked each one to write down at least three things they were thankful for, one for each person of the Trinity. Then, at offering time, the cards were collected, and Pastor held them up before God as he led the congregation in a prayer of thanksgiving. Pastor spoke from Isaiah 9:1-7, a passage usually reserved for Christmas. But he reminded us that in it Isaiah is giving reasons why the people could rejoice. Rev. Jones then used Isaiah’s reasoning to supply for us reasons to give thanks and rejoice in Gods blessings today.
Of course, we, like ancient peoples, celebrate thanksgiving to give God praise for abundant harvests. Even though many in our culture are removed from agricultural roots by continually stocked grocery shelves, we cannot forget our complete dependence upon the God of Creation for every harvest.
We also give thanks when we see God at work. Isaiah foresaw God at work on Israel ‘s behalf. We can look back over the year and see how God has been at work in our lives and the lives of our families and friends. Often God has moved to change our gloom to joy just as Isaiah said God would do for the area called Galilee.
Isaiah pointed out particularly that God would be at work for his nation. Here again, we have many national blessings for which to give thanks as well. Jesus changed the history of the world and our country’s history and values have been shaped by Bible teaching.
But most of all, Isaiah pointed to the coming spiritual blessings that would be given to God’s people through the One whose birth he predicted. Paul reminded us how much we owe to Jesus.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.”
Ephesians 1:3 NIV
Pastor Jones reminded us that our brains are creating new pathways and eliminating unused ones all the time. So as we give thanks this week, we are shaping ourselves into a more grateful people who rejoice more and complain less. What a great idea!