Gratitude

Thanksgiving

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments 
  Rejoice always and delight in your faith; be unceasing and persistent in prayer; in every situation [no matter what the circumstances] be thankful and continually give thanks to God; for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Amp

My sister keeps a jar on her shelf filled with little slips of paper on which are written things for which she is grateful, then on Thanksgiving, she pours them out and reads them, as a reminder of the things that she can be thankful for. In today’s verse, the Apostle Paul, has a similar idea, but he goes one radical step beyond gratitude for blessings. Instead, Paul tells us that in every situation, no matter the circumstances, we are to rejoice, delight in our faith and give thanks. To be honest, I have not learned how can how to do that all the time, but I have picked up a few clues along the pathway as I have followed Jesus. God has shown me that the rejoicing, thankfulness and prayer Paul talks about isn’t about me: it is about Jesus. He reminds me that when Jesus suffered terribly on the cross for us, He endured it all, because pleasing His Father was His greatest joy. The joy that Jesus had, certainly had nothing to do with his situation. He was nailed to rough wooden beams, between two others, who were likewise dying in agony, just a few feet away. He heard the soldiers mocking him and saw them gambling for his last bits of clothing. Yet Jesus had the strength to forgive His enemies, see to the care of His mother and to give the promise of paradise to a thief. Jesus had joy, in spite of His situation, because He loved those around Him, till the very end. This Thanksgiving, whether we sit at a table, surrounded by our family, are alone at home, or even confined to a hospital bed, there is always someone we can love. There is always at least one person, who we can forgive, one who we can encourage or one who we can pray for.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! May God watch over you, keep you close to His heart and draw you closer to Himself this year in the precious Holy name of Jesus I ask His blessing. Amen!

Faith goes up the stairway that love has built and looks out the window that hope has opened. Charles Spurgeon

Thankfulness for the Body of Christ

/ pastorpete51 / 9 Comments 
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:12 ESV

My wife and I enjoy doing puzzles together, so I was delighted to find an almost new 1,000-piece puzzle with a Thomas Kincade painting on the box for a dollar at a yard sale. As soon as I got home, I dumped the puzzle out and eagerly began working to piece it together. Because of the complexity of the design, I didn’t at first realize, but eventually it became clear that, though my puzzle was almost new, it had been put into the wrong box! That puzzle reminds me of how in spite of God’s design, we sometimes struggle to find where we fit. In today’s verse the Apostle Paul tells us that together we are the Body of Christ and each of us is a part. Fortunately for us, God puts the correct picture on the box, (the Bible) and second, we are each intricately designed to be put into exact the position for which God designed. Paul gets very detailed about those parts, calling some of us eyes, some ears and others, hands and feet. Some of us who suffer from low self-esteem are encouraged by realizing that we too are a valuable part. However, we also need to remember that discovering our usefulness also means finding how our being connected to others gives us the opportunity to serve them. Trying to find how we fit in the church, without being thankful for people around us, is like our putting our puzzle together with the wrong picture on the box!

Though, people will usually take time to thank God for their blessings, why not go beyond just being thankful for how we have been blessed and take the time to give thanks for how God has blessed others, who He has connected to us. We just might be amazed at how being thankful, will clear our vision and help us to see them as part of the beautiful puzzle that God has designed called the Body of Christ!

"The beginning of men's rebellion against God was, and is, the lack of a thankful heart." 
Francis Shaeffer
Photo by Polina Tankilevitch on Pexels.com

So Many Whatsoever’s!

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

After sharing our family’s prayer request for our daughter-in-law Melinda yesterday I was overwhelmed with people offering encouragement and prayers. Thank you for the verses, songs, and personal insights. I thought I would share a blessing of how they are facing the situation.

Yesterday, instead of staying home and moping, they took advantage of a rare warm November day to head over to Melinda’s favorite hangout – The miniature Horse farm in Strassburg. We all love the place where you can feed miniature horses, llamas, goats and chickens. Then there are the whoopie pies, home-made apple butter and lots of Amish handcrafts in their store. It reminded me of the verse that the Apostle Paul wrote while sitting in prison. He didn’t say, “Woe is me! The Romans are corrupt, please get me out of here!” Instead he encouraged his friends to be grateful for every good thing -no matter how small.

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Philippians 4:8 KJV

It makes me ask myself, “How thankful have I been today for every detail of the blessing of life that God has granted me. In fact remembering and celebrating the good in spite of the bad is even what Jesus told us to do every time we receive communion. It is all part of His plan and at the end is joy in His presence and peace beyond anything we will ever understand!