"COUNT YOUR MANY BLESSINGS"
Occasionally, we sing a song in our book entitled, "Count Your Many Blessings". It is designed to remind us that even though we are often beset with problems of various sorts, one of the things that can help us get through those times is to sit back and count the many blessings in our lives, "one by one". In so doing, we will realize just how blessed we really are. Do we do such exercises often enough? When we are confronted with discouragement, the bills seems to be mounting up with no end in sight, we are having problems with our family and friends, or perhaps even the brethren, or in one way or another we are being persecuted, and a host of other examples, if we would sit down with a piece of paper and in one column write down all our problems, and in another column, write down ALL our blessings, both spiritual and physical, the rule in the overwhelming number of instances would be that the blessings would by far outnumber the troubles.
This week, America is celebrating Thanksgiving. It is a holiday designed to remind us to take time and be thankful for all the blessings we do have. It used to be that the thankfulness on that day was always directed toward God to thank Him for what He has given us. Now, by far too many in society, God is left out of the picture. BUT such is not the case for the Christian.
The Christian needs to be thankful. There are a number of passages that teach this idea. Colossians 3:15 says, "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful." To the Ephesians Paul said, "giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. " (Eph. 5:20). "In everything give thanks..." (1 Thes. 5:18). To Timothy he taught, "Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men," (1 Tim. 2:1). "Giving thanks to His name" is a way we offer the sacrifice of praise to God, according to Hebrews 13:15.
The Christian needs to be thankful always. Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday. But, for the Christian, it is not the only time we should be thankful. The above passages do not specify only a certain day, nor even a season, but they show that we must ALWAYS be thankful. Every morning we ought to thank God for a restful night and sparing our lives for another day. Every evening we ought to thank God for the blessings of the day and such is also a good time to ensure that we are in a right state with Him. As we sit down to eat a meal, we should take a moment to thank God for the food before us. We ought to look for opportunities to thank God and praise Him. IF we will do that, we will find it easier to love God the way ought to, which in turn will make it easier to obey Him (1 Jn. 5:3). And Thanksgiving will not just be a day when we get together with our familles and loved ones and consume mass quantities of turkey and all the trimmings. It will be a way of life.
JTATJR