"Let your lives overflow with thanksgiving for all He has done." Col. 2:7

Being Thankful was the focus of our message at church yesterday. I know that Tamra already wrote about the worship experience (which I completely agree was wonderful), but I wanted to focus on the message that Uncle Jay challenged us with. I think what struck me the most was the simplicity of the challenge, yet something we often forget to do.

The service began with the reading from 1 Chronicles 29:10-15. This is David's "Prayer of Praise" after the offering for the temple was taken. The people gave freely and generously, and David was filled with joy. He goes on to say, "O Lord, the God of our ancestor Israel, may you be praised forever and ever! Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O Lord, and this is your kingdom. We adore you as the one who is over all things. Riches and honor come from you alone, for you rule over everything. Power and might are in your hand, and it is at your discretion that people are made great and given strength. O our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name! But who am I, and who are my people, that we could give anything to you? Everything we have has come from you, and we give you only what you have already given us!" (NLT)

The first thing Uncle Jay did was ask people how they show that they are thankful for something. I loved that he made the sermon interactive, and he called upon people from the congregation to share their thoughts. Many people talked about using words to show our thankfulness. When someone gives you something, you often tell them "thank you" to show them you are grateful. However, someone also shared that our actions speak of our thankfulness. In Uganda, they have a way of accepting a gift that shows gratitude and thankfulness. The person receiving the gift faces the person giving the gift, has a slightly bowed posture, and holds both hands out in front of him to accept the gift. The part of this that I loved the most was that the person receiving the gift has his eyes on the giver, not on the gift he is being given. The point that Uncle Jay was making was how often are we focused on the THINGS that God gives us, rather than God Himself??!!

Uncle Jay then asked people to think of places in the bible where we are told to be thankful. I loved hearing the scriptures that people shared. As I've had time to reflect on the message, these are the verses that stood out to me:

"Let your lives overflow with thanksgiving for all He has done" Col 2:7

"Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: “Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever.” 2 Chronciles 20:21

"I will give you thanks in the great assembly; among the throngs I will praise you." Ps 35:18

"For 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." Rom 1:21

That last verse reminds me of another point that Uncle Jay made yesterday. God does not need our thanks. He is not up in heaven just waiting for us to thank Him for things. Being thankful is for our benefit. It reminds us (just as the verse in 1 Chronicles states) that everything we have comes from God! We are placing him as the greater, and we ourselves as the less. When we give thanks to God, we give Him the praise and adoration He deserves.

The final point of the Uncle Jay's message was to think practically about all the things we have to be thankful for. Next week is the Thanksgiving Celebration here at New Hope (and we are very sad to be missing it). They have a school for the deaf coming to join them on Sunday, and Uncle Jay talked about how these children are treated because they can not hear. Many of them were abused, rejected and abandoned because of their handicap. Yet how often do we take our ears for granted? When was the last time we thanked God that we could hear the birds singing (as Tamra and I are listening to right now), or the gentle rustling of the trees as the wind blows through them? When did we last thank God that we can go to church and HEAR the word of the God being preached? Or that we have eyes that allow us to read the words on the pages of our bibles? Or that we have minds to understand the message? So many things we take for granted.

The final challenge that we were left with was to take a passage of scripture (such as Psalm 139) and to reflect upon all the ways we can thank God as we read the words. For example:

"O Lord, you have searched me and you know me..." When was the last time I stopped to thank God that He knows who I am? With the 6 billion people in the world, God knows me...and He knows you. And even more than that, He knows us so well that He sees when we sit down or when we stand up (v. 2).

I said at the beginning that one of the things I loved about the message was the simplicity of it. May we all take some time today to reflect upon "all He has done" in our lives. May we evaluate whether our eyes are on the things He gives us, or on the giver Himself. May we acknowledge our complete and utter dependence upon Him for everything. And just like the psalmist, may we "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever"

Kim