A Thanksgiving Devotional

Wow, I realized I have not posting anything on here for a year. So I wanted to post something before the year ended. So with this being Thanksgiving, let me share a Thanksgiving devotional I wrote for the Conestoga Youth Group a couple years ago. It's a good one to share.

In my senior of high school, for Faith Walk class, my teacher assigned us to write 100 Blessings we were thankful for in our devotionals. One of my classmates said to him, "What?! 100 Blessings?! Are you crazy?!" My teacher replied, "You're right...110 Blessings." My classmate was shocked even more. "You want us to think up and write down 110 blessings?! That's insane!" My teacher responded, "Yeah, I guess you're right...make that 120 blessing." My classmate was about to object a third time, but the rest of his classmates quickly shut him up before it became 130. Truthfully, I was as shocked as everyone else was. I wasn't sure I could write up 120 Blessings I was thankful either. But sure enough, my teacher knew it was possible, and I did record on paper 120 blessings I was thankful for (click anywhere where it says "120 blessings to read it!). Yeah, sometimes it felt like I was nitpicking, but it really got me thinking about specific things (or people) I was thankful for, and why I was so thankful for these blessings. And it's a good thing. After all, the Bible calls for us to be thankful for all our blessings.

While there are many verses that use the term "thanks," "give thanks" or "thanksgiving," if I had to pick a theme verse for Thanksgiving, I would pick Ephesians 5:20- "always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Now, I'm a student of Greek, and to be a student of Greek, you have to be able to notice the grammatical structure of the sentence, like the subject, the direct object, the indirect object, the verb, and the prepositional, and so on. So let's break down this verse in the same way. What is the subject of the verse, or who is perfoming the action? We, as Christians, are. What is the verb, or what are we doing? Giving thanks. What is the direct object, or what are we giving our thanks for? All things. What is the indirect object, or to whom are we giving our thanks for all things? God the Father. What's the adverb, which tells us when are we to give thanks? Always. And what's the prepositional phrase, which says why we are to give thanks? Because of Jesus Christ.

I once heard somebody paraphrase this verse like this: “Every Christian must give thanks to God for everything in every circumstance in all times”? And I think it's a good paraphrase and a good interpretation. A more literal translation of Colossians 3:17 and 1 Thessalonians 5:18 would agree with it. Colossians 3:17 says,"And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." 1 Thessalonians 5:18 tells us, "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." When we think of commandments, we usually think of the Old Testament, like the 10 Commandments. But there are commandments in the New Testament, and giving thanks is one of them. God has truly given us so much, in light of our condition. What condition is that? We're fallen sinners, living lives rebellious towards God. Our lives should be living hells. Yet every now and then, we get bits of heaven. Nobody would ever give things to someone who purposely annoying them or pissing them off. Yet God does, out of his preverant grace. So would it hurt to give thanks every now and then for these little things?

I know sometimes it's easy to give thanks, and sometimes it's hard to give thanks. It's easy to give thanks when we've gone so long without something, and then, all of a sudden, we get it. But sometimes it's hard to be thankful when we see what others have and then see we don't have it. Instead of being thankful, we replace a thankful attitude with a jealous one. We watched "reality shows" of celebrities, and we wish we were wearing the latest fashions like they were, wearing the shinest jewelry like they were, and driving the coolest cars as they were. Shouldn't we be thankful for the clothese on our back and the car that gets us from Point A to Point B safely? I know these kinds of things use to make me jealous instead of thankful, too, but then I read some shocking statistics that changed my attitude. I hope they do the same for you. Just consider the basic necessities you need for life...

FOOD: It is estimated that 800 million people in the world suffer from hunger of malnutrion. 15 million of these 800 million will die from their starvation. If you are well-fed, you are in the top third of the world population. You would be considered "upper class"
WATER: 20% of the world does not have safe drinking water
MONEY: 3 billion people in the world live on $2 a day. 1.3 billion people live on $1 a day, or less.
HOME: 100-200 million people in the world are homeless.
CAR: Only 8% of people in the world have a car. If you have car, you are in the top 8%
COMPUTER: Only 1% of people in the world have a computer. If you have a computer, you are in the top 1% of the world.
PHONE: Only 17% of people in the world have a phone, and only .1% have a cell phone.

This wasn't meant to guilt you. This wasn't meant to call you to live a simpler lifestyle (although if it does, more power to you). This was meant to show you how fortunate you are for owning any of these things and how it calls for being thankful for these things. So you can't eat out weekly or can't expensive seafood. At least you can eat, which 2/3 of the world can't. So you have to drink water out of the tap instead of buying water bottles. At least you can drink that water. So you work at minimum wage. In some places of the world, minimum wage is 25 cents an hour, not $7.25. Now minimum wage doesn't look so bad. So maybe you wish you had a bigger house, with bigger bedrooms or a bigger kitchen. But you're more fortunate than those living in tents or cardboard boxes. Give thanks for that. So your car is over 10 years old or has more than 100,000 miles on it. If it runs, you should be thankful, for many people don't have that option. Be thankful if you are the top 1% of the world that owns a computer, even if it's not a fast computer. Be thankful if you're the top .1% of the world that has a cell phone, even if your cell phone is not an iPhone or any other smart phone.

And this is where it gets personal. I am only working for $9 an hour. And when I pay tithes, taxes, rent, electricity, internet, car insurance, and gas, I only have $35 left for food...for the week. So needless to say I am use to ramen for lunch and mac and cheese for dinner...every day. My car is 10 years old and over 133,333 miles. I sometimes feel like I am the only one who still has a feature [cell] phone because everyone else has a smart [cell] phone. Some people might not complain about this. But when I realize some people can't afford to live on their own, can't afford to have electricity, can't afford a car (whether that be the payment, the insurance or the gas), or can't afford a cell phone, I give thanks to God that I do have these things. And more recently, I have become extremely thankful that my girlfriend and her grandmother have been gracious enough to feed me a more balance dinner with more variety.

And once Thanksgiving is done, we start preparing for Christmas, and things flip-flop. We go from being thankful to wanting. And it leads me to question, "How can we keep this attitude of thankfulness through a time where people want?" I pray that we can find the answer, and once we do, we immediately act upon it.