Thanksgiving
Why should everyday be
thanksgiving for Christians
For the Christian, every day
should be Thanksgiving Day. We
should even be thankful in the
midst of problems. The Apostle
Paul said, “I am exceedingly
joyful in all our tribulation” (2
Corinthians 7:4). He knew that
God was working all things
together for his good,
even though he was
going through trials
(Romans 8:28).
Problems will come
your way. God will see
to it personally that you
grow as a Christian. He
will allow the storms, to
send your roots deep
into the soil of His Word.
We pray more in the
midst of problems, but
it’s been well said that
you will see more from
your knees, than you
will on your tip toes.
A man once watched
a butterfly struggling to get out
of its cocoon. In an effort to
help it, he took a razor blade,
and carefully slit the edge
of the cocoon. The butterfly
escaped form its problem …
and immediately died.
It is God’s way to have the
butterfly struggle. It is the
struggle that causes its tiny
heart to beat fast, and send the
life’s blood into its wings.
Trials have their purpose. They
make us struggle—they bring
us to our knees. They are the
cocoon in which we often find
ourselves. It is there that the
life’s blood of faith in God helps
us spread our wings.
Faith and thanksgiving are close
friends. If you have faith in God,
you will be thankful because you
know His loving hand is upon
you, even though you are in a
lion’s den. That will give you a
deep sense of joy, and joy is the
barometer of the depth of faith
you have in God. Let me give
you an example.
Imagine if I said I would give you
one million dollars if you ripped
out the last page of today’s
newspaper, and mailed it to me.
Of course, you don’t believe
that I would do that. But imagine
if you did. Imagine if you had
knowledge of more than 1,000
people who had sent in the
page, and every one received
their million dollars—no strings
attached. More than that. You
had actually called me, and I
34
had assured you personally that
I would keep my word. If you
believed me, wouldn’t you have
joy? If you didn’t believe me—
no joy.
The amount of joy you have
would be a barometer as to how
much you believed my promise.
We have so much to be thankful
for. God has given us “exceeding
great and precious
promises”
that
are
“more
to
be desired than
gold.” Do yourself
a
big
favor—
believe
those
promises,
thank
God continually for
them, and “let your
joy be full.”
An old farmer
once
had
an
ungodly
relative
visit him. After
the farmer, had
bowed his head
and thanked God
for the food they were about
to eat, the relative rudely said,
“What did you do that for?
There’s no God. We live in an
age of enlightenment.” The old
farmer smiled and said, “There
is one on the farm who doesn’t
thank God before he eats.” The
relative sat up and said, “Who is
this enlightened one?” To which
the farmer quietly replied, “My
pig.”