November 2024
I have reserved the “Pastor’s Pen” for practical Christian discipleship and, for the most part, have steered away from using the change of seasons for inspiration, except for Thanksgiving and Advent. In our country, Thanksgiving is a national holiday, and I am grateful for it. However, today the LORD reminded me of a quote I heard around 15 years ago while driving my garbage truck. I have shared the following quote from Pastor James McDonald a few times from the pulpit: “Gratitude is the attitude that sets the altitude for worship.”
Translation: Christians with a lack of gratitude experience low-flying worship. The flipside is high-flying worship, which is the outflow of continual, heartfelt gratitude towards the LORD, God Almighty. As Christians, we are called to live every day with gratitude and a thankful spirit.
Let’s talk for a moment about where the lack of thankfulness stems from. Perhaps the lack of gratitude stems from financial ruin, death, chronic medical issues, anxiety or catastrophic events like the two hurricanes millions of Americans are currently dealing with, which leads us to a thankless spirit. It is easy to write about thankfulness from my office, with access to clean water and food. Yet, the benchmark for Christians is walking in gratitude to, and worship of the LORD, in spite of our personal storms. You may be asking, how is being thankful possible in such situations? How or why would we worship Jesus in the worst times?
Psalm 136 various verses. Note that the ESV does not capitalize the “H” when
referring to God with the male pronoun; however, I chose to use a capital “H”
in those instances.
Vs 1-3: “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods, for His steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for His love endures forever;…” The LORD knew our storms before He spoke the universe into existence. We can praise Him and thank Him because His steadfast love endures, even when our love for God fails! Even when fear, anger toward Him, and hopelessness steal our gratitude and love for God, His love endures!
Vs 6: “to Him who spread out the ea4rth above the waters for his steadfast love endures forever.”
Vs 13: “to Him who divided the Red Sea in two, for His steadfast love endures forever.”
Vs 23: “It is He who remembered us in our low estate, for His steadfast love endures forever.”
Vs 26: “Give thanks to the God of heaven, for His steadfast love endures forever.”
Thankfulness is driven by our understanding of who God is, despite our situations. The hardships we suffer, even the most grievous ones will not endure forever. We have been born into a broken and sinful world; therefore, our wounds may linger for decades but not forever. Instead, it is God’s love, mercy, forgiveness, compassion, grace, and comfort that endure forever! Let the words of the Apostle Paul penetrate your mind and soul and bring you hope. May his words also lead you into a life of gratitude toward the LORD:
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, for your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 8:35-38
We have much to be thankful for. Let us, “Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise! Give thanks to Him; bless His holy name! For the LORD is good; His steadfast love endures forever, and His faithfulness to all generations” (Psalm 100: 4-5). The LORD is worthy of all praise, all the time!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Pastor Steve
