Thursday, November 23, 2006

Some thoughts on Thanksgiving (part 8)

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.” (Psalm 100:1-5)

The Psalmist wrote ‘and not we ourselves.’ It points out that everything we are and have come directly to us because of God’s goodness. Wm. Cooper put it this way “Thankfulness is rather the confessing of our debt than the payment of it; and forasmuch as we are bound always to be thankful, it doth acknowledge we are always beholden to God and always insolvent.” The Apostle Paul said this in 1 Corinthians 15:10a “But by the grace of God I am what I am…” When we pray, we remind ourselves, and show God, just how dependent we are on Him; and when we offer thanksgiving unto Him, we remind ourselves, and show God our indebtedness to Him. Celebrate Thanksgiving by realizing that we owe it all to God the Father and His Son the Lord Jesus Christ, and that we are not self-sufficient. Selfishness and pride are not honored guests in the Thanksgiving season.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Confessing our debt rather than repaying it is a great way to look at our relationship to God in thanksgiving. Great post Bill.