Most of you know that I am a Jesus-following Christian. It’s something I make quite public, in fact, I hope & pray that it spills out of me every time that you see or talk to me. I suppose that the best sermon anyone ever could hear is the life of a true believer. I know so many people whose faith inspires me and encourages me to keep pressing-on in my own walk with Christ. I feel so compelled to tell you that I have witnessed over and over again the goodness of the Lord. I have seen Him work out situations and answer prayers that only He, as the Sovereign God of the Universe, could do. I have experienced His unfailing love and His continuing faithfulness over my 33 years of life.
I come from a broken home, one where we went to church many Sundays, but was still broken by infidelity and anger. Now, looking back over the time since our family was broken up by so much ugliness, I can see how God has worked those things for our good. The situation was not good, the sin was not good, but the God we serve was…and He is. I don’t know if you believe that Jesus is Who He said He is or if you even care at this point in your life. But I can tell you that I have lived in some ugly and sinful situations in my life. Some were created by other people and many were created by me. And I truly have no greater joy in my life than to tell you that I have seen God prove Himself by His unfailing love and faithfulness – and not once have I ever deserved it. My heart literally cannot hold all the thanksgiving I want to give Him every single day!
There are so many things vying for our praise & attention in this world, and I want to ask you this Thanksgiving week…where does your praise & attention go? There are many wonderful things we all have, and many wonderful things we get to be a part of that we should be incredibly grateful for! There are many people we should extend our gratitude to and countless opportunities we should take to share these feelings of thanks! And, my question is, are you regularly thanking and praising the Lord God? Think about what He did for us…He sent His Son, Jesus, into the world to save us. He laid down His life and defeated death forever and we can live forever, too, by just believing in and trusting Jesus. And even if you don’t believe that He did what He did…have you investigated it for yourself? I’m not asking you to take my word for it, ask Him for goodness sake! The Living Savior has a way of making Himself known in every heart that truly seeks truth.
Life is just too short and means too much to walk through it not sure about where you stand on the subject and person of Jesus Christ. I owe my entire life to Him. He gave His life for all of us. What would you do for a person who willingly gave up their life in your place? What if someone took a brutal, shameful, disgustingly awful beating on your behalf and then died so that you could live? Not only so that you could live, but then to have a life more abundant than you could ever create for yourself? What would you do for that person? How would you treat them? That’s what I’m asking you today. Because it has been done. It happened when Jesus Christ died on the cross and 3 days later when He got up out of the tomb alive. This is the exact reason why every day I live, I am compelled to come into His courts with thanksgiving and praise. I cannot even help myself, He has done too much for me already & somehow His faithfulness keeps continuing and so does His love. And He is good. My prayer this Thanksgiving is that you, too, will experience His goodness!