Thankful For What We Don’t Have

This time of year we think about ‘counting our many blessings’. It's easy to look at all of our stuff all our friends and family, our homes, our jobs and understand the need to be grateful.

Yet do we realize that our greatest blessing might just be what we don’t have?

If we are free from disease. If we are not at war. When we don’t suffer physical persecution for our faith. When we don’t have fear of our government. When we don’t have toxins in our water or poisons in our food. When we don’t have crimes overrunning our streets. When we don’t have want for food or supplies.

We have it so good because we don’t have so much that others do. And for that we should be thankful.

Thankful and generous. One can’t truly be grateful for what he has if he is not willing to share that with those that do not.

If we count what we have and all the things we are not burdened with, it would be asinine not to realize that we are a blessed people. These blessings have come from our God on High. In Him, we should give thanks!

Psalms 103:2

Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits;

Comments

Until Midnight

In Acts 20, there is the tragicomic event surrounding a young man by the name of Eutychus. He did what a lot of folks before and after him did, he fell asleep during a sermon. Unfortunately, he was setting in in the third story window at the time. So instead of nodding off and hitting the pew in front of him, he fell to his death. The good news was the apostle Paul was delivering the sermon and had the ability to bring him back. I don’t know, however, if we can judge Eutychus too harshly. The sermon had gone on till midnight. Paul wouldn’t finish it up till daybreak. That’s a long lesson. I know some folks that might want to jump out of a window if I had a lesson that long, yet these Christians wanted to be there to hear Paul. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not pushing for all night sermons but I think we might need to adopt these folks' dedication. They knew that Paul was only in town for a limited time only and they were determined to ...

The Gift You Give Yourself

I always hated buying gifts for my Mom. If I got her something like a new set of pans, it was like saying “Here’s something you can use to go make me something to eat”. A gift for her was seemingly a gift for me. There are however gifts you give that benefit you more than the receiver. For example, forgiveness. When you give it, you are giving it to yourself as much as you are giving it to them. Jesus said that when we forgive others it means God is forgiving us our wrongs (Matthew 6:14-15). I once read: “ Heaven is where everyone's forgiven. Hell is where nobody's forgiven. So, when we forgive we pull heaven down into our lives. When we withhold forgiveness, we pull hell up into our lives ” Give yourself something nice today, Forgive.

Mysterious Ways

William Cowper didn’t see any reason to live. He decided that he’d jump off the bridge over the Thames. So, he called a cab to take him there. But that night in 1763, a thick fog enveloped London. It was so thick the cab driver couldn’t find the bridge and couldn’t even find the way to take William home. In frustration, he ordered the driver to stop and get out to get his bearings. He walked up to the nearest house to read the number and it was William's house. Gone now were William’s thoughts of suicide and instead a new idea came into his head. So, he went in and wrote these words: God moves in mysterious ways His wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the sea And rides upon the storm. You fearful saints, fresh courage take; The clouds you so much dread Are big with mercy and shall break In blessings on your head. I sometimes wish we could see all the ways God watches over us when need it. There are...

Ecclesiastes 12:10

Search This Blog