Express your thanks to God by expressing it to those around you!
The way we express ourselves to others is the true way we feel about God.
These are profound thoughts, ponder them and read on.
There is a special day set aside in the United States called Thanksgiving Day. It is even a national holiday. Family and friends gather together for visits and fellowship. This special day is to give thanks to God for His blessings and mercy.
The focus is thanks to God. This indeed is most important, however I would like to start from another approach then move on to thanks to God.
When I was a child I was taught by my mother and father to “Always’ say Thanks. Anytime someone gave you something your necessary response was to say “Thanks”. At the table even when someone passed the food you must say , “Thank You’. Whenever I forgot my dad would say “Son?’ and I would quickly reply “Oh, thank you’. During my growing up in Mississippi and Louisiana all my friends said Thank You. Even during my college years in Mississippi it was true. Only after moving away to Montana and then to California did I meet people whom you did something for or gave something to who did not say Thank You. It was shocking but then I realized I was living in a different society. We also had to say “Yes Ma’am’ and “Yes Sir’ in reply to any question or statement by an older person. I did not know its importance then but I do now. Still often in the South I hear people saying Thank you, and Yes, Sir. How thrilling.
During this Thanksgiving week may I suggest saying “Thank You’ in several different ways?
A special “Thank you’, to your wife, husband, father, mother, children, family. Just express what someone means to you. Don’t just assume they know. Take the time. Call them aside and tell them how you love them and thank them for their love and friendship or something they may have done for you. This will bless them and thrill them. Too many times people gather at funerals and speak with great love and thanks and passion about someone they never told while they were alive the same words. Let anything you have to say good be said now to the living.
Say a special “Thank you’ to someone who has blessed you spiritually in your life. Have you told the people that have enriched your life thank you? The person who helped you may be so blessed to hear from you. So often we don’t say thanks to the ones who have helped us the most.
Also say “Thank you’ to people who have helped you in some way. The friendly cashier at your local convenience store, the people who helped you with your yard and mowing, the kind receptionist at your doctor’s office. On and on I could go. Just give them a special thanks for Thanksgiving! The experience could be so touching for them you may ask to even have a prayer of blessing for them. Many people are hungry for someone to personally pray for them. In that prayer you may finish by inviting them to pray with you a prayer to receive Jesus and follow Him.
I have found that when dealing with people in government and companies, they are deeply touched by me saying ‘Thank you’. Many of them say, “I seldom hear that’.
Thank the phone company for their service for you, the light company, etc.
Thank the person that opens the door for you, the person that buys the meal at the restaurant, the person at the gas station.
It may be good to look back and think of those that have helped you in life and then find them and say thanks. I want you to know the difference you made in my life.
Could it be that you have never even said thanks to the person who led you to Jesus? What about that person who stood with you when all others left? What about that friend that knew the worst about you but believed in you and never betrayed your trust.
Often we think, ‘Oh they know how I feel’. I can say that should you tell them, so you are sure they know.
As you finish this column, your mind is full of people to say thanks to. Just now write down the names and then seek to convey your thanks.
God says how can we love Him who we do not see if we do not love those who we do see? I might add. How can we thank God who we do not see with our eyes when we do not thank those whom we know?
I may also suggest one of the greatest ways to say Thanks is to meet a need in someone’s life. Give food to the needy. Visit a sick person. Go to a prison and visit a jailed person. Give a special donation to a person or ministry. Feed a homeless person or get them a room.
Should you have a problem with that statement then please read carefully the
following scriptures.
I will let them speak for themselves.
“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’
“Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’
And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’
“Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’
“Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’
Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:31-26:1 in the Holy Bible)
“Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.’ (1 John 3:18-19 in the Holy Bible)
But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
(1 John 3:17 in the Holy Bible)
“Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
Let the redeemed of the LORD say so,
(Psalms 107:1-2 in the Holy Bible)
“Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
Oh, give thanks to the God of gods!
For His mercy endures forever.
Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords!
For His mercy endures forever:
To Him who alone does great wonders,
For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who by wisdom made the heavens,
For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who laid out the earth above the waters,
For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who made great lights,
For His mercy endures forever,
The sun to rule by day,
For His mercy endures forever;
The moon and stars to rule by night,
For His mercy endures forever.’
(Psalm 136 in the Holy Bible)
May the Lord be pleased with us as we give thanks!
Pilgrim followers of Jesus,
Arthur and Denise Blessitt
Luke 18:1