How to Thank on Thanksgiving

"Celebrate the Feast of Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field. Celebrate the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field.” Exodus 23:16.

I found the title for this blog in the Postmedia News. “This should be interesting,” I thought, “a piece on how to be thankful.” And then followed several paragraphs on thanking your hostess for an invitation to thanksgiving dinner! How paltry, when Thanksgiving is a time of thankfulness to God for his bounteous provision.

Of course, practical atheists—those who may believe in a God of some kind, but consider Him irrelevant to life—have a problem: when they are thankful, they have no one to be thankful to! Just thank those who prepared the meal but had nothing to do with its provision. Scripture is clear, lack of thankfulness to God is the first step to sidelining Him and descending into folly.

Romans 1:21 reminds us, “although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” It’s a bit like doing a shirt or blouse up, starting with the wrong button, all subsequent buttons are out of place. Failing to be thankful to God distorts all our other thinking.

But be careful of criticizing others; the same omission may be affecting our walk with God. There’s nothing like making a list of all the things we can be thankful for to give us a fresh perspective on life. Even in extremity, we can recognize God’s goodness and provision, especially his grace and forgiveness toward us.

This Thanksgiving is the perfect opportunity.

"Proof" of Love

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 1 John 3:16.

Does the 3:16 in this Bible reference ring a bell? The original John 3:16 also speaks of love, God’s love toward us, and this verse repeats the theme. However, I challenge you prove that love exists. We all know it exists, the feelings we experience are unmistakeable. But we can’t see, measure or weigh it; there is no empirical way to prove its existence.

We only know two people are in love by the way they act, that is, by circumstantial evidence. Of course, all sorts of people talk about love, as you may say you love your wife, husband, father or child. How do they know? Love is not simply enjoying another’s company; on occasion, that may not be part of it. Does this mean love can be a chore?

Ah, the shoulds and oughts of life! And today’s verse adds another—“we ought to lay down our lives for [others].” It seems the paramount evidence that love exists is sacrifice. That may mean dying for another—Jesus said there is no greater love than that—but it far more likely means living for another, and that can be a greater and more demanding sacrifice.

So if someone tells you he or she loves you, or you claim to love someone else, can you see the evidence?

Hope in Distress

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you . . . Ps 42:5–6

They say that talking to yourself is the first sign of madness. I say, it’s one way to have an intelligent conversation! At first glance, this psalmist seems to be on the madness side of the equation, his soul has every reason to feel anguish if we read the remainder of the psalm—misery, abandonment, and humiliation seem to be the psalmist’s lot.

I’m sure you, like me, feel completely justified when distraught under oppressive conditions, particularly when life with Christ promises peace and joy. Surely life should have a “Somewhere, Over the Rainbow” quality about it. From the intense longing created within us, we all dream of that final place of perfect, secure happiness.

So, why does the psalmist consider his soul’s distress misplaced when he feels so tortured? The first verse hints at the answer, where the centre of his longing is not somewhere beyond the rainbow, but an intense thirst for God. Moreover, the psalm shows that looking back over history confirms his confidence in the faithfulness of God.

As some of you are aware, I have dealt with serious health problems over the past two years. I am somewhat surprised at my own calm reaction; certainly, misery at the pain, but no sense of worry or panic about the outcome. A lifetime of trusting God, and knowing my eternal affairs are settled is my confidence. And there are many more like me!

The difficulty you or I may be going through now is a reality check on our faith. But a glance at God’s care for us in the past supports our trust in Him during our present difficulty—we “will yet praise Him.” Our greatest asset as Christians is the hope set before us; life’s harassments are passing, but the certain fulfilment of our longings is eternal.

Does Knowledge Really provide Power?

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. Proverbs 1:7

The problem with firstborns is their tendency to be control freaks! They frequently pick up responsibility for younger siblings and need to be in control to avoid anarchy. Ann especially, in her dysfunctional home took control of her three younger brothers. That of course, was her childhood home, although she still likes to be the neck that turns the head!

I can’t complain, I am a firstborn also. Can you imagine a home with two control freaks? There are times we just have to go along to get along! If you’re like us, you probably like to be in control of life, your situation and even others too if necessary. The old saying that “knowledge is power” is popular because knowledge gives us control.

Trouble is, knowledge can make us arrogant as well. Much of our secular academic world believes the knowledge it has amassed enables it to control life on earth; that God is irrelevant or unnecessary for the task. But Paul says “Knowledge puffs up . . . The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.” 1 Corinthians 8:1–2.

Have you ever tried doing up a shirt or blouse, starting with the wrong button? If the first one is wrong, every other one is out of place also! Similarly, if our fundamental truth about the universe is faulty, then all truth derived from it will be faulty as well. Not to respect God’s interest and involvement in earth and its inhabitants is to start our search for knowledge with the “wrong button.”

Part of that fundamental truth is that our sinful nature distorts our thinking. Left to our own devices, we will try to control life in ways that are ultimately self-defeating. Let’s seek God’s perspective on life if we want to be wise. Perhaps my greatest fear is that even using biblical knowledge without God’s insight could undermine my ability to share God’s truth!

Update

It is now Tuesday September 28, 2010. Ann will be out of replacement hip surgery for three weeks by this Thursday, and it will be four weeks since my heart attack the same day. As you may imagine, September has been an eventful month, but today sees us very definitely on the mend.

For the first week after my heart attack, our daughter Alexandra, http://stillenjoyingthejourney.blogspot.com/ was with us to see me home from hospital to ensure I wasn’t attempting teenage feats and to shepherd us through Ann’s surgery. Following her stint, our daughter Heather from New Zealand was with us for two weeks to bring Ann home and help her through basic skills required of a toddler!

Their help was invaluable, especially as I wasn’t allowed to drive for a month after a heart attack—Alberta law! That also terminates this Thursday! Our daughter Karen, who lives locally, filled the vacant spots and is providing taxi service for this last week. It was a great opportunity for our three girls to be together for a few of days as they live so far apart.

This last weekend, we travelled with some friends to Edmonton for a writers’ conference we had registered for a few weeks earlier. Both our doctor and the surgeon saw no problem providing Ann could move around during the journey. However, she slept for two hours in each direction! In addition, the week end provided some welcome exercise, that might not have happened had we stayed home.

Today was eventful. Ann is getting more adventurous, and while in the garden checking her tomatoes, fell to her hands and knees. No damage or pain, but getting her upright was another matter, accomplished with a series of imaginative moves! But her mobility has increased remarkably, thanks to the weekend in Edmonton.

For myself, today I underwent a stress test. I stayed the course for most of the full time—ten minutes—with increasing effort and no ill effects. Apparently, few people my age get that far! Also an echo-cardiogram a few days previous showed a normally functioning heart. Seems I’m not a candidate for heaven just yet.

We realize it’s early days, but we are thankful to God for his healing process and for the family and friends he has provided during the recovery. Thank you all for your prayers. We already have articles of our experiences in the City Light News, October edition. So don’t count us out yet, we will still be invading your lives with our ideas and opinions, and, we trust, revealing the goodness and majesty of God in our writings.

Thinking of You

I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you. Romans 1:8

I guess today’s text (as usual taken from the Bible League Devotional Day Planner) is most appropriate. A refresher weekend at a writer’s Conference in Edmonton this past weekend has reminded me (I’ve heard this before but forget easier than I remember) that I am thinking insufficiently about you—my readers.

If there’s a basic responsibility for a writer, it’s to make his or her (in this case my) work interesting for the readers—the greatest crime is to bore them. That’s not easy; at that point most will move on! That crime increases if readers are bored by some writer’s comment on the Gospel.

You may ask how it’s possible to bore anyone with the greatest story on the planet, but if you’ve ever fallen asleep (or wished you could) during a sermon, I‘ve made my point. If proclaiming the Gospel, either by preaching or writing, ever loses its passion, the proponent is badly in need of a refreshing.

Surely, it shouldn’t be possible to relate some part of the greatest Love Story on earth without an emotional impact. But being cerebrally inclined and devoid of much emotion, it is an ever present risk to which I succumb too often. And if passion is missing, so probably is compassion for those who read my stuff!

Our faith is always something to be excited about. While it is essential that there is substance in any Bible comment, please don’t let me get away with failing to share the thrill of discovery from God’s amazing message to us. Our God is an Awesome God!

On the Mend!

This blog is to update you all on our progress from Heart attack--me three weeks ago, and a new hip--Ann, two weeks ago.

Ann has seen her GP and surgeon this week and is progressing well. She is in the process of moving from a walker to a cane, but it'll be about another two or three weeks before she is close to normal. Dressings are off and the wound is healing well. She is now mobile enough to attend this weekend's conference in Edmonton we had booked a couple of months ago.

Having had a stent placed in a 90% blocked heart artery, I'm back to feeling fairly normal, but
finding it's necessary to take things slowly. Going with Ann to the Edmonton conference this weekend, and looking forward to some motivating stuff. Will need to commence an walking program, thanks to a change in the weather!

So many of you have prayed for us and sent us your blessing, which we greatly appreciate. We still have some life in us yet, and will continue to promote our faith in Jesus Christ as long as He gives us life.