TODAY’S VERSE:
Psalm 100:4 “Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!”
What does the word “thanksgiving” mean to you? Most of us think of eating a big meal with our family on the 4th Thursday of every November, right? It is wonderful to have fun memories of family get-togethers, but we must not forget the true meaning of both the word and the day. Thanksgiving is about giving thanks! Who should we be giving thanks to?
1 Corinthians 15:57 “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
If you answered, God- you were absolutely correct! The verse above tells us that He gave us the victory through Jesus Christ. This, of course, refers to our salvation. So, we should spend time every day thanking God for saving us. Remember, God the Son became a man, took on the judgment for our sin, died, and came back to life to show that God’s children share in His victory over sin and death. WOW, right? How do we even begin to express our gratitude for a gift so huge?
Psalm 95:1-2 “Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!”
Yes, we can sing to Him! There are so many wonderful songs of thanksgiving found right in the Bible. If you ever cannot think of a song, just open your Bible to the book of Psalms, and you will have so many to choose from! Now, not every day is filled with delicious meals, family fun time, and makes you want to sing for joy. So, what about “those” days, you know, the ones when you fall off your bike and skin your knee, get in trouble with your parents, and fight with your siblings?
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
We are to give thanks to God for EVERYTHING! You fell off your bike because you were not paying attention; that skinned knee could have been a lot worse, right? Thank God He protected you from a bigger injury and taught you a valuable lesson. You got in trouble with your parents because you lied to them. Lying is a sin, so thank God you have good parents who work to teach you how to live righteously. You fought with your siblings because you did not want to share with them. We are commanded to love others and share. This was another valuable lesson from God, showing you the consequences of sin. Even after all of this, though, the Lord loves you. We sin every day and will, unfortunately, do so until we are finally home with the Lord for all of eternity. Despite our sinfulness, God will never stop loving us. No matter what happens in our lives, we can always find something to be grateful for, starting with the unbelievable truth that the Almighty God, Creator of all things, loves us and always will.
Psalm 136:1 “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.”