Sandwiched between the world’s Halloween and the chaos of Christmas is a day that many people have forgotten. Retail sales roll from their 7 billion dollar increase at Halloween into the expected 48% of their yearly sales at Christmas. If you are lucky you might be able to find a package of napkins or a cardboard turkey centerpiece that somehow acknowledge Thanksgiving, but in most regards it is the forgotten day.
This day that has been forgotten has been relegated to 4 activities:
1. Eating
2. Sleeping
3. Watching football
4. Mapping out your plan for black Friday
I think I could find scriptures that could loosely condemn all four of those activities, but I am not against them as much as I am about us getting Thanksgiving back to what it needs to be.
Psalms 100
1 Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.
2 Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
3 Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
5 For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
So what can we do as Christians to acknowledge and celebrate this glorious day as it should be?
1. Inventory God’s blessings in our lives:
Even in our struggles and trials we have many blessings in our lives. If we take the time we will see that we are overwhelmed by all that God has truly given to us.
2. Consider the invaluable things in your life:
As you find yourself around the table this Thanksgiving, truly look into the faces of your family and friends and realize their worth to you. Thanksgiving gives us the chance to really evaluate the things that cannot have a price tag put upon them.
3. Do something for someone else:
Sometimes we need to reset our priorities and realize how thankful we should really be. By doing for someone else it gets our minds off of what we think that we are missing and it just might get you to realize how blessed you really are.
4. Practice thanksgiving throughout the year:
Not only should we pray with thanksgiving and enter the house of God with thanksgiving, but we should live our lives with thanksgiving. The discipline of gratitude brings natural wealth by freeing us from the snare of comparison living and the trap of unrealistic expectations.
It is impossible to be truly grateful for what God has given to us and discontent at the same time. Purpose in your mind to not let Thursday, November 24, 2016 become a forgotten day; Be filled with Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksliving!
Pastor Hoffman
This day that has been forgotten has been relegated to 4 activities:
1. Eating
2. Sleeping
3. Watching football
4. Mapping out your plan for black Friday
I think I could find scriptures that could loosely condemn all four of those activities, but I am not against them as much as I am about us getting Thanksgiving back to what it needs to be.
Psalms 100
1 Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.
2 Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
3 Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
5 For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
So what can we do as Christians to acknowledge and celebrate this glorious day as it should be?
1. Inventory God’s blessings in our lives:
Even in our struggles and trials we have many blessings in our lives. If we take the time we will see that we are overwhelmed by all that God has truly given to us.
2. Consider the invaluable things in your life:
As you find yourself around the table this Thanksgiving, truly look into the faces of your family and friends and realize their worth to you. Thanksgiving gives us the chance to really evaluate the things that cannot have a price tag put upon them.
3. Do something for someone else:
Sometimes we need to reset our priorities and realize how thankful we should really be. By doing for someone else it gets our minds off of what we think that we are missing and it just might get you to realize how blessed you really are.
4. Practice thanksgiving throughout the year:
Not only should we pray with thanksgiving and enter the house of God with thanksgiving, but we should live our lives with thanksgiving. The discipline of gratitude brings natural wealth by freeing us from the snare of comparison living and the trap of unrealistic expectations.
It is impossible to be truly grateful for what God has given to us and discontent at the same time. Purpose in your mind to not let Thursday, November 24, 2016 become a forgotten day; Be filled with Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksliving!
Pastor Hoffman
RSS Feed