Nov 20 2008
Paving Paradise
As surely as the days are shortening, and the threat of winter weather is coming closer, so too are we nearing Thanksgiving. This American holiday is intended to remind us of those early pilgrim settlers who endured severe hardship as they forged our fledgling nation; we are to remember that they, themselves, offered thanks for the gift of sustenance and survival. But more than that, we need to think of the One to whom that thanks was offered, and to whom our thanks is owed, the One to whom we owe our food, shelter, clothing, even our very next breath.
But is this really what we are thankful for? As the world rushes toward the end times, and things get progressively less God centered, where do our loyalties lie? Sure, we are thankful that Uncle Fred and cousin Larry don’t live any closer than they do, and that they can’t stay too long, (remembering last year when they got drunk and shaved the cat), but aren’t some of us strategic thanks givers. The goal being to stuff hubby so full that he will sleep straight through Black Friday, and won’t miss the credit cards while we’re at the mall. What says, “Thanksgiving,” as much as a good Pre-Christmas sale? It is as though Thanksgiving Day is only a countdown to getting on with something else, and the meaning of the moment is entirely overlooked.
Please don’t get me wrong, there are many exceptional family memories made by the traditions that families keep. If you shop on Friday, that’s fine, but hopefully you know that there is a lot more to the weekend than base commercialism. Thanksgiving is, to me, the most important of American family holidays. I know that a lot of you would favor Christmas or Easter as your top pick but since we are not commanded to keep any of the holidays we typically observe, this is one time that we can use the lens of familiar emotion to measure the day. Thanksgiving is the one holiday that is centered around the blessing of family and God’s provision in our life, and a holiday that plays hard on the strings of our hearts with the Norman Rockwell-ian images of nostalgia.
Easter is great, but it has turned into a fashion show accessorized with the misplaced chocolate smudge, and afternoons of egg salad. Everyone gets all dressed up in their finest to impress the folks at church … ahem… I mean … to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. Christmas is wonderful but, if you look carefully, you may discover that there are no birthday celebrations recorded in the Bible, and besides; Christmas has evolved into little more than materialistic secularism trying to find a way to advertise immediately after the 4th of July. While the birth and resurrection of Christ are, without question, tremendous miracles; it was the death of Christ on the cross at Calvary that took away the sin of the world. But I digress… My point is that we can look at Thanksgiving a bit differently than the other holiday heavy hitters.
Thanks - When is it appropriate to offer thanks? If you buy something, then you deserve the thing you purchased as fair exchange for your payment. If you labor for a thing, like a wage, then you are owed your compensation. Only in the case of a gift, something given to you that you have no right to expect, is thanks the appropriate response. When sister Sally gives us a present, the least we can do to thank her, but the thanks should not end there. Even though the gift came from another person we need to realize that it is God who softened that heart to give. It is our Heavenly Father that motivates us toward any benevolent enterprise, it is only God that allows us to love or care for one another.
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father…” James 1:17. We have all received gifts that we would have esteemed somewhat less that perfect, or barely even good, but the adage remains that it isn’t the gift, it’s the thought that counts. The gift may have come from the second-hand store, but the thought came from God, and that IS what counts. It is said that there is nothing needed which is withheld and nothing given which is not needed. For all things we are to express our sincere gratitude, both to the one through whom God delivers the gift, as well as to God who gives the gift in the first place.
Paul writes, in Ephesians 5:12, “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;” So lets unpack this. “Giving thanks always…” To appreciate, and express the appreciation, that something has come into our life by the divine providence of God is the least we should attempt to acknowledge. We owe God our praise and adoration for fulfilling needs that we may not even have realized existed before. Have you ever received something and after a while said to yourself, “How did I ever get along without this?” God knew that you needed it. And all the things we receive are like that, whether or not we see it at the time. “… for all things …” Some of the things we receive are enjoyable while some others might not be. Still, it says, “all things,” and so we must learn to see that even the hardships are for our benefit. The word, “all,” is vital! Romans 8:28, “And we know that ALL things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” All things, even those that we might not find so pleasant, are working toward our good, if we love God.
“… unto God and the Father …” This just makes sense; we have already seen that all good and perfect things are from God, so who else should get the thanks and praise but God? “… in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Without the intercession of Jesus on our behalf, none of us could send a simple prayer into the throne room of God. Christ is the sole intercessor between God and man so all prayer and praise must be presented to God in the name of Jesus. Jesus tells us in John 14:14, “If ye shall ask anything in my name…”
There can be no substitute for the thanks offered to the Father in the name of the Son. As you sit around the table and reel in the moment of love and warmth, swoon in the swirling aromas of apples, clove, nutmeg, turkey and ham and the obligatory pumpkin pie; think of where each of these gifts came from. As you look around the room at the family God has given you; as you marvel that He has allowed some of them to travel great distances to share this day and delivered them safely to you, recognize that you are truly blessed in this life. There are many who will not be able to be with their families because of military service, illness, or a variety of other reasons; some will not have enough to eat or a warm place to stay. Think about these people and pray for them. Realize that, “…there, but for the grace of God, am I…” Teach your children that thankfulness is a debt owed daily to God for all he does to sustain us in all our trials as well as in our plenty.
In the 70’s, Joni Mitchell wrote, “Don’t it always seem to go, you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone, they paved paradise and put up a parking lot.” She might have been on to something there, it does seem to go that way, but it doesn’t have to. We need to wake up and see the daily miracles around us. We need to see the providence of God in our lives and revel in it. We need to get our heads right so that we see the gifts raining down from above. We need to think about the salvation that is ours because of the gift of Christ that God gave into the world to save us from our sin. We need to have our children, and the whole world, see us bow in a prayer of genuine thanksgiving. Nothing pleases God like the heartfelt prayer that comes to Him from His children as they strive to set an example of a simple thing done …
All for the Glory of Christ