O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his steadfast love endures forever!
Psalm 118:1
As Thanksgiving approaches, it’s a good time to remind ourselves what we’re thankful for. Some years I make a list. It gets long, including family, good health, friends, plenty of comforts of life, and many other things.
I am thankful for all of that. I never want to take any of those people, including you, and things for granted.
This Bible verse gives a slightly different take on thanksgiving. It reminds us where all of our blessings come from.
So often we keep our eyes on things of this world. That’s a downer for me. It’s easy to see the divisions, crimes, political correctness (in every area of life, including sports) and self-centeredness that dominate American culture.
Children and teens abuse cell phones. The internet features judgmentalism and pornography. Television shows off plenty of flesh and violence. So do the movies, adding cussing as routine language far too often.
But phones, computers, TVs and movie screens are inanimate objects. Technology itself is neither bad nor good.
What we do with them determines their usefulness to us.
Can we be thankful for our technology?
I’m thankful for my laptop, because that’s how I connect with many of you. I value your friendship, even if it’s primarily online.
I don’t have to agree with you politically or in other ways to keep you as a friend. I look for common ground, even if we see life differently.
How can I do that? Because the God of the universe created us both. You are my brother or sister, really. We have the same Father, even as we have different fathers.
I am thankful for that this holiday season. More unites us than separates us, if we choose to see life that way.
Every one of us entered this world the same way, and each of us will return to dust. We do many things to prolong our lives, but the end is inevitable.
That’s not morbid. That’s fact. Indeed, that’s a good thing, from my perspective. I often see this world as a downer; heaven is the opposite. I’m excited to get there one day.
The LORD is good, the verse from Psalm 118 says. Many of us don’t believe that, but I do. When looking solely at this world, we can’t trust anyone anymore, can we? No one is good.
But the living God is.
How do I know? Because his steadfast love endures forever. That wonderful sentence is repeated throughout the Psalms.
Steadfast: Not subject to change.
Love: Strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties.
Endures: To remain firm under suffering or misfortune without yielding.
Forever: For a limitless time.
Aren’t those definitions worth giving thanks for? They came from the Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, copyright 1991.
The sentence came from God, the definitions from a secular dictionary. They go together, don’t they? That’s the way God works.
Steadfast
With people, change is good – because we know we have messed up our lives. Even if we won’t admit it to each other, we know it’s true. To worship a God who never – never – messes up is beyond our comprehension, really.
No temptation affects Him. No anger forces Him to lose His temper. Judgment, yes; condemnation, no.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Hebrews 13:8
Jesus was around before time began (John 1:1), and He will be around after time ends (read the book of Revelation). As our creator, He knows our deepest needs and wants to meet them – if we let Him.
Love
Love takes many forms, of course – most of them selfish. We give hoping or expecting to receive something in return. That’s why we hurt each other; there’s no way another person can meet our deepest needs and desires.
That’s why we need to look up. I give thanks to the God who loves me the way I need to be loved.
And because His love is steadfast, it’s there even when I don’t feel it.
“Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
Jesus, in Mark 3:35
Kinship is bestowed on those of us who do what God wants us to do. As kin, we will receive an inheritance one day.
For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ …
Romans 8:15-17
We are adopted children. Parents who adopt choose to do so; in the same way, God has chosen us. The inheritance He offers us is far better than anything our parents can bestow on us, because material things won’t last forever. Neither will we, on Earth.
We know this, don’t we?
Endures
The dictionary definition of endure is eye-opening: “To remain firm under suffering or misfortune without yielding.”
It’s not keeping the same job for 40 years, or the same marriage for 50. Endurance requires suffering.
A good friend has had debilitating headaches since he was 14. He’s in his early 80s now. Several of you endure chronic pain with no end in sight. I cannot imagine that kind of endurance.
When Jesus Christ suffered taunting, a crown of thorns, 40 lashes and death by crucifixion, He suffered in ways we can’t begin to understand.
“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.”
Jesus, in Luke 22:42
To willingly accept suffering on our behalf, even when He knew it would kill Him, is steadfast love that endures.
Forever
We don’t think of the afterlife this way, but we should. Our time on Earth is finite; again, we know this, if we’ll stop and think about it.
Then what?
Is this all there is? Really?
Such a downer that would be.
There is more. So much more.
“… he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.”
John, in Revelation 21:4
This is only the beginning of what heaven will be like. It’s a pretty good start, isn’t it?
O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his steadfast love endures forever!
This is what I’m thankful for this week.
Bonus: I’m now ready for Christmas.
the liberal conservative 