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We
have a “Thanksgiving” holiday in this
country,
A commemorative annual event
when
The
news media pauses from reporting all the
negative news,
A time when many churches
and many peoples in many lands
Pause
to give thanks to our Creator for a few
minutes or a day or two,
Before returning to the football games,
the Macy’s Parade, the
Cry
of business and school schedules, and
the
Blitz
of Christmas ads screaming for our
dollars.
Do we
really understand the necessity of
Giving Thanks?
I
stumbled across a passage in Revelation
14:6-7 awhile back, about
the “eternal gospel”, which
really set me back on my heels.
The
“Eternal Gospel”? What is this?
Why
have I not heard of this before?
“The Eternal Gospel is to fear God, to
give Him glory, and to worship Him.”
The
inward attitude of fearing God and His
just retribution for our sins, combined
with
Thanksgiving for His overwhelming love
and compassion
Should manifest
themselves within us as deep worship.
To
fear God is the inward attitude, the
naked realization of your sin,
That
awful, sinking feeling in the pit of
your stomach that
You’ve blown it, you didn’t study hard
enough, you failed the test,
You’ve lied to yourself, your mate, your
colleague, your boss,
your kids… and their friends….
And you don’t have the
courage to admit your failures,
Which are
many…..
To
fear God and His wrath for our
deliberate disobedience,
To be
humble before the Mighty One of Israel,
Who can crush us at any
instant like an ant on the sidewalk
In
just retribution for our sins, which are
many…
But
to balance our fear of God with
gratitude for His grace and love,
Knowing of His holy desire
to forgive and forever forget
ALL of our sins,
as far as the East is from the West……
The inward
attitude of fear of God, when mixed with
adoration and love
For all of His forbearance,
His grace upon grace,
Must manifest
itself in active praise, which is the
Visible manifestation of our inward and
outward attitudes.
So
many of our precious teens destroy
themselves with anger and drugs
And
alcohol and sex and lies and suicide…….
They don’t have Hope…
When
our youth run head-first into the brick
wall of reality,
When
they can’t reconcile the overwhelming
positive ads in our
TV’s and movies and
newspapers and magazines for
New
clothes and fast cars and more and more
and more…
With
all of the negative conflicts, the
struggles with sex and mates
Or
friends or jobs or grades or car
insurance or self esteem……
The
overwhelming relationship strife which
never seems to ebb,
The
institutional indifference our college
youth face,
That
their thoughts are insignificant, that
no one cares,
That
they can’t make a difference……
Have
we, the parents and leaders, given them
Hope?
Have
we, by example, taught them to Give
Thanks?
Why
are we here? What is the meaning of
Life?
What
goal is there worthy of all of the
heartache and struggle and strife?
Is
there any hope? Does anyone care?
God, are You there? Do You
really care?
Why don’t You
answer?
Has
He not given us His singular, clear
answer in His Word,
When
He tells us why He created us, that we
might
Humble ourselves and worship Him for all
He’s done?
Attitudes.
A third of our life’s energies are
wasted
Trying to solve and re-solve, over and
over again, attitude problems,
Attitudes, which are, in reality, a
reflection of our beliefs.
It
doesn’t matter whether the issue is
another Presidential scandal
Or
more White House lies
Or international wars or
terrorist bombings
Or problems at
work or an argument with our spouse
Or
obnoxious teenagers within our own homes
Or crime in our streets…
Most problems revolve around
attitude issues, which are, in reality
A
reflection of our beliefs.
What
do you believe this Thanks-Giving?
I
believe we must Give Thanks, and humbly
worship our Creator
For His great attitude
toward us, that while we were yet
sinners
He
gave us His Precious and Only Begotten
Son,
That
we might be reconciled with Him,
That
we might humble ourselves in adoration
and worship…
And
in Thanks-Giving to our Creator
I
find simplicity and hope and meaning in
life,
And
purpose and fulfillment and joy and
peace and
A
dynamic message that our children need
to hear over and over again,
And
see amidst our daily struggles this very
real Thanks-Giving message,
Lest
when the doubts assail and the fears
overwhelm and
Relationship strife smacks our most
precious children in the face
They
fall and succumb to depression and anger
and retaliation and
The
overwhelming desire flee the strife, to
be at peace through suicide…
Dare
we fail to worship? And Give Thanks?
Every day?
Do
not our very lives, and the lives of our
children, who are
The
true lifeblood of our nation, depend on
our attitudes?
Our willingness to Give
Thanks in every circumstance?
Our
willingness to openly worship God with
all that we have and are?
Will
you sing JOY TO THE WORLD with me
this Christmas season,
At
the top of your lungs? |
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