Father,
This week, there
will be many families that will be getting together to celebrate Thanksgiving
Day. And that is so right. We, as a nation, have much to be grateful to You
for. The blessings that our country has enjoyed are very great.
But the sad fact,
Father, is that while there will be those family get-togethers, for too many of
them there isn't going to be the recognition of Your blessings. As a nation, we
have gotten to the place where the blessings are simply assumed or worse. We
think that the good that we enjoy is ours because we have worked hard to get
it.
Father, this is a
great evil, a very great evil. You warned Your people, Israel, about falling
into this trap.
Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ Deuteronomy 8:17
This is a warning
that our friends and neighbors and some in our extended families need to hear.
What good they enjoy has been a gift from You. And You are a God jealous for
Your own glory. Those who refuse to willingly give thanks to You in this life
will be forced to do that in the next.
But Father, this is
a warning that we, Your Church, also need to remember. We are so affected by
the culture around us. It is easy to pick up its bad habits. It is easy for us
to credit ourselves for what good we enjoy. So, we ask, Father, that you would
make us remember that the tremendous blessings that we enjoy are all from You.
Keep far from us that arrogant spirit that prides itself on its own presumed
accomplishments. Make us into a people deeply humbled by how great and gracious
Your blessings have been. Remind us of these things not just around
Thanksgiving Day but all year round that our lives would reflect Your beauty to
those around us and draw them to Jesus. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.