Thanksgiving: Leftovers

Psalms 118:21 "I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation."

I pray everyone had a blessed thanksgiving holiday yesterday and that we were all able to reflect and be thankful for the amazing God who loves us and lets us know He loves us. As I was pondering the holiday yesterday and then the fact Christmas is now less than 4 weeks away I started to think about the correlation between thanksgiving and hope.

I shared a few days ago about what the focus of our thanksgiving should be. I believe that most Jesus lovers are very thankful people. Those of us who love Jesus truly are thankful for the ways He loves us. We are thankful for the blessings and gifts that God gives us, like our friends, family, material blessings, and spiritual blessings. We are truly a thankful people for how God showers acts of grace on us, His children. But has I pointed out in that post, we tend to miss a lot of the time that it is God that we should be thankful for. Yes, be thankful for the things He give us, but it should be focused primarily on who God is. Be thankful for the fact of God as the creator, sustainer, and Being we can have as a Father. To truly be thankful to God we must enjoy and bask in who God is and all that means. Be thankful for the blessings but more importantly be thankful for GOD and JESUS.

As, I was pondering the Christmas season coming up I began to think about hope also I am finding out in my life and the life of other Jesus lovers, we can fall into the trap of hope and the focus of hope the same way as thanksgiving. What should we hope in? I find in my life sometimes I am hoping in what God can do for me. I am hoping in the fact God can provide me with a better financial state, or a position in the ministry, or even little things like a better car. But when I am hoping in what God can do or change for me I miss the point. Yes, when I pray I should hope in what I am praying for and hope in God doing something for me, but I should be hoping in God. When I hope in God I should hope in who God is with all His attributes and qualities. I should hope in God and His love for me, His power to help me grow, His provisions for me, His answers for me. I should be hoping in all that God is and let Him do for me and my prayers what He desires. I find if I hope in what God can do, what happens when He sees it differently and acts differently then my hope? Hope in God so that my hope will never change or be crushed.

I find a connection here between my thanksgiving and my hope. Yes, it is good to be thankful and hope in what God can do, BUT WE NEED TO TRULY JUST BE THANKFUL AND HOPEFUL IN WHO GOD IS FOR US. That is a lesson and reminder that I need to preach to myself daily because then in all that God allows this life to throw at me, I will always be thankful for everything and hopeful in all of life.

I pray as we approach Christmas, our hope in God and in the power of His Son will grow.