In just three days, Americans will
celebrate another Thanksgiving Day. Most
of the people celebrating will be focused on the food they are consuming or the shopping
they will be doing (now on Thanksgiving Day, not just the day after!). Some will be focused on the blessings of family and holiday togetherness. Fewer still
(even few Christians) will actually take the time to focus on the blessing of
having a relationship with the
sovereign God of the universe.
I want to be one of the people in
the last group. I want to separate
myself from the trappings and warm, fuzzy feeling of the holiday and really
send my thanksgiving in the right
direction for the right things. Don’t get me wrong . . . it is a blessing to
be part of a loving family and to
have the privilege of enjoying good food
together. Not everyone has that on
this day, and I don’t ever want to take those things for granted.
But when I decide to count my blessings, I need to be able
to see beyond the here and now and desire something more than earthly warm
fuzzies. As Christians, the blessings
and benefits we seek should be different than those that other people want to
achieve. To be blessed by God means to
have a distinctive spiritual joy and
ultimate well-being that only comes
from relationship with him. It is the state of being spiritually prosperous,
an inner condition that should affect our outward behavior and approach to
life. And while we tend to think of
blessings as things that we get to enjoy right now, God’s blessings often
involve future generations and also stretch into eternity. God’s ability to bless us in an eternal way far exceeds our limited
expectations for him to bless us in the here
and now.
The Bible tells us that we all
have the complete package of
benefits connected with knowing God: we have been chosen, adopted, and forgiven, and have spiritual insight, spiritual
gifts, the power to do God’s
will, and a future hope. “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly
realms because we are united with Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3)
Regardless of how many earthly
blessings are present or lacking in my life, focusing my attention in the
right direction should produce a grateful
heart and a different perspective on
how my life is truly blessed in all the ways that really matter. This
Thanksgiving, I want to focus on the blessings that are eternal and spend more time being thankful for those than the
blessings that are temporary. It’s not wrong to be thankful for earthly
blessings, but will you choose to join me in counting all your blessings?
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