This week, families across this great nation will come together to celebrate Thanksgiving Day. That one day of the year that we cook too much food, for way too many hours, eat way too much in a 1/8th of the time it took us to cook all that food, share that we are thankful for our family and friends, jobs and homes, and watch parades and football. For my wife’s family it also includes the “Girls” sitting down and preparing their Black Friday shopping strategy. Where to go first, what to buy, where to eat breakfast, and how to get home before the sun goes down again. If that sounds like your typical family Thanksgiving, then I am sorry, because that is not what this day is meant to be about.
The first ‘Thanksgiving” was celebrated in 1621 by the remaining Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620 on the Mayflower. The winter of 1620 took the lives of more than half of those who had sailed across the Atlantic Ocean seeking to make a new start. The first “Thanksgiving” lasted for three days and, included the Native American allies. The second “Thanksgiving celebration was held in 1623 after Governor Bradford called for a religious “Fast” following the end of a brutally long drought.
It wasn’t until 1789 that George Washington, then President of the United States, issued the first Thanksgiving proclamation.
“Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor…a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of almighty God.” Washington’s proclamation was signed on October 3, 1789.
I mention that date only because exactly 74 years later, in 1863, Abraham Lincoln, in the midst of the Civil War, in his Thanksgiving proclamation, designated the “Last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent father who dwelleth in the heavens.” It was eventually changed to the fourth Thursday in November in 1941 by then President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Lincoln also stated in his 1863 proclamation,
“No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people.”
That is what this coming Thursday was established for. It wasn’t for the NFL, Macy’s, or the Turkey farmers across the country. It was a day for the people of this country to thank the creator of the Universe for the abundant blessings, despite the struggles and failures of the past, present and future.
So what am I thankful for? In the country we live in today, is there anything to be thankful for other than the normal things we are always thankful for, our families and friends? I believe there is, and here are the four things that I believe we should all be thankful for, because this is what this day was originally meant to be for.
1. God’s Favor
We live in the greatest country in the world. We have so much, but we take for granted what we have. We don’t truly understand that who we are as a nation and what we have as a nation are not by our own hand. We have found the favor of God. Now I am not saying that Americans have not worked hard and continue to work hard, that our forefathers fought and died for the liberties that we enjoy, but we would not be who we are as a nation without the favor of God.
Job 33:26-27 then that person can pray to God and find favor with him, they will see God’s face and shout for joy; he will restore them to full well-being. And they will go to others and say, I have sinned, I have perverted what is right, but I did not get what I deserved.
2. God’s Blessings
Right along with God’s Favor, come His blessings. The friends and family, the abundant amount of food that will be on our tables this Thanksgiving Day, the freedom and liberties, the grace and mercy, are just a small portion of the abundant blessings that we have received and continue to receive.
Ephesians 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
3. God’s Forgiveness
An imperfect world is what we live in and this nation is made up of imperfect people. When we sin we need forgiveness, and the only one who can truly forgive us for our sins, is the God that we are grateful to for His favor and blessings.
Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.
4. God’s Promised Future
For those who acknowledge, and are grateful for the favor, blessings, and forgiveness, there is a bright future. When we are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ through baptism, we live a good, faithful life, and we seek “first the Kingdom of God,” we will be ushered into a future life incomparable to any life imaginable.
Romans 2:7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.
Sure, there are an abundance of things to be grateful for, and I encourage you, on this Thanksgiving Day, as you sit with your families, sharing what you are thankful for, think on the things that you are thankful for, but remember to be thankful for the One who has blessed us greater than we ever deserved as individuals, or as a nation.
God Bless you and your family on this Thanksgiving Day 2017. I’ll talk to you soon.
The first ‘Thanksgiving” was celebrated in 1621 by the remaining Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620 on the Mayflower. The winter of 1620 took the lives of more than half of those who had sailed across the Atlantic Ocean seeking to make a new start. The first “Thanksgiving” lasted for three days and, included the Native American allies. The second “Thanksgiving celebration was held in 1623 after Governor Bradford called for a religious “Fast” following the end of a brutally long drought.
It wasn’t until 1789 that George Washington, then President of the United States, issued the first Thanksgiving proclamation.
“Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor…a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of almighty God.” Washington’s proclamation was signed on October 3, 1789.
I mention that date only because exactly 74 years later, in 1863, Abraham Lincoln, in the midst of the Civil War, in his Thanksgiving proclamation, designated the “Last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent father who dwelleth in the heavens.” It was eventually changed to the fourth Thursday in November in 1941 by then President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Lincoln also stated in his 1863 proclamation,
“No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people.”
That is what this coming Thursday was established for. It wasn’t for the NFL, Macy’s, or the Turkey farmers across the country. It was a day for the people of this country to thank the creator of the Universe for the abundant blessings, despite the struggles and failures of the past, present and future.
So what am I thankful for? In the country we live in today, is there anything to be thankful for other than the normal things we are always thankful for, our families and friends? I believe there is, and here are the four things that I believe we should all be thankful for, because this is what this day was originally meant to be for.
1. God’s Favor
We live in the greatest country in the world. We have so much, but we take for granted what we have. We don’t truly understand that who we are as a nation and what we have as a nation are not by our own hand. We have found the favor of God. Now I am not saying that Americans have not worked hard and continue to work hard, that our forefathers fought and died for the liberties that we enjoy, but we would not be who we are as a nation without the favor of God.
Job 33:26-27 then that person can pray to God and find favor with him, they will see God’s face and shout for joy; he will restore them to full well-being. And they will go to others and say, I have sinned, I have perverted what is right, but I did not get what I deserved.
2. God’s Blessings
Right along with God’s Favor, come His blessings. The friends and family, the abundant amount of food that will be on our tables this Thanksgiving Day, the freedom and liberties, the grace and mercy, are just a small portion of the abundant blessings that we have received and continue to receive.
Ephesians 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
3. God’s Forgiveness
An imperfect world is what we live in and this nation is made up of imperfect people. When we sin we need forgiveness, and the only one who can truly forgive us for our sins, is the God that we are grateful to for His favor and blessings.
Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.
4. God’s Promised Future
For those who acknowledge, and are grateful for the favor, blessings, and forgiveness, there is a bright future. When we are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ through baptism, we live a good, faithful life, and we seek “first the Kingdom of God,” we will be ushered into a future life incomparable to any life imaginable.
Romans 2:7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.
Sure, there are an abundance of things to be grateful for, and I encourage you, on this Thanksgiving Day, as you sit with your families, sharing what you are thankful for, think on the things that you are thankful for, but remember to be thankful for the One who has blessed us greater than we ever deserved as individuals, or as a nation.
God Bless you and your family on this Thanksgiving Day 2017. I’ll talk to you soon.
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