PAST COLUMN #19

From the West Meadow
By Pastor Wesley Higgins

Have you ever wondered what the national holiday Thanksgiving is about? Not likely; it’s the one holiday that anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of the English language can grasp the meaning of. It doesn’t matter how religious you are, or are not, you can’t escape knowing what the day is about.
It doesn’t even matter what we look forward to on that day. Whether it’s sitting down to a big meal with family and friends, or crowding around with family to watch a football game on TV, the results are the same: an attitude of thanksgiving.

Whether we realize it or not, when we are in an attitude of thanksgiving we reflect one of the greatest attributes of our Father in heaven. No fewer than six times in the first chapter of the Bible, God reveals His thankfulness: “...then God saw everything that He had made and indeed it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31) When the Father revealed Jesus as His Son, He gave thanks: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17) Jesus customarily gave thanks, throughout the Gospels. Paul tells us to “be imitators of God” (Ephesians 5:1), and one of the things we should imitate is the “giving of thanks” (v.4).

At the same time we are imitating God in the giving of thanks, we are also witnessing for God. The Hebrew word translated “give thanks” in the Old Testament is the word “yadah”. “Yadah” best translates “to make public acknowledgment (for what God has done)”. The noun “yad” means hand; so, we have the visual and the spoken witness of thanks to God for all that He has done for us. Revelation 12:11 suggests that it is by this thankful witness–our spoken testimony–that we overcome our greatest adversary, Satan the devil.

Just as thankfulness is an attribute of God, an unthankful, coveting nature is a basic characteristic of Satan and anyone who is influenced by him. Satan wasn’t thankful for the position of authority God gave him over the earth; he coveted God’s throne (Isaiah 14:12-15). Our being unthankful for what we have leads to covet what we don’t have. Covetousness leads to other sins. James put it this way: “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” (James 1:14-15) James goes on to remind us that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father.” (James 1:17)

We thank you, Father

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