Temple Baptist Life

When we returned from our recent trip, we saw the house had been painted. We were very grateful. I called our chairman of Buildings and Grounds and thanked Tom for the hard work of so many. It was just a simple thank you. It wasn’t a hard thing but it was a needed thing.

A man writing at the post office desk was approached by an older fellow who had a post card in his hand. The old man said, “Sir, could you please address this post card for me?” The man gladly did so, and he agreed to write a short message on the post card, and he even signed it for the man, too. Finally the man doing the writing said to the older man, “Now, is there anything else I can do for you?” The old fellow thought about it for a minute, and he said, “Yes, at the end could you just put, ‘P.S. Please excuse the sloppy handwriting.’” Have you ever been in a situation like this. You offer your help but it is met with contempt. Jesus knew what it is like to give without receiving thanks.

Vance Havner said, “Our biggest problem in the church today is this vast majority of Sunday morning Christians who claim to have known the Master’s cure but do not return to thank Him by presence, prayer, testimony and support of His church. In fact, the whole Christian life is one big “Thank You,” the living expression of our gratitude to God for His goodness. But we take Him for granted and what we take for granted we never take seriously.”

Have you ever forgotten to give thanks? I know I have. When was the last time you gave of yourself to another and, instead of receiving thanks, only saw indifference. I made a delivery with some food for the church one time to a local lady. I went and picked out a big bag of food for her. When I gave it to her she looked into the bag and the first words out of her mouth were “I HATE beans!”. She proceeded to complain about everything in the bag and as I left I apologized for what I had given her. Gifts are only received with thanks when they are recognized as gifts. Too many do not express thanks because they feel they deserve the gift or have a right to be helped.

Warren Wiersbe said, “Some people are appreciative by nature, but some are not; and it is these latter people who especially need God’s power to express thanksgiving. We should remember that every good gift comes from God and that He is “the Source, Support, and End of all things.” The very breath in our mouths is the free gift of God. Thankfulness is the opposite of selfishness. The selfish person says, “I deserve what comes to me! Other people ought to make me happy.” But the mature Christian realizes that life is a gift from God, and that the blessings of life come only from His bountiful hand.”

A lack of gratitude in life shows that we do not really understand our need for salvation and the lengths God went to in order for us to be saved.

Sometimes people are grateful but they simply chose not to return and express that gratitude. Other times they think “I’ll make sure that the next time I see him I will thank him.” I am sure that some people have others to see and things to do that they were busy and could have their minds were distracted. They want to thank others but just do it later. Have you ever been like that? Someone shows you an act of kindness and you think to yourself, “I need to write then a note of thanks but then you forget”. It is easy to put off giving thanks.

In Vermont an old farmer was sitting on the porch with his wife. He was beginning to realize how much she meant to him. It was about time–for they had lived together forty-two years, and she had been such a help, a very willing hard worker. As they sat together, he said, “Wife, you’ve been such a wonderful woman that there are times I can hardly keep from telling you.”

Thankfulness is an act of the will and not just an emotion. It is not something that happens automatically but requires a conscience decision and action.

Ediwn Lutzer said, “You can learn to give thanks even if you don’t feel particularly thankful. If God gives a command, he expects obedience, whether you are in the mood or not. Thankfulness, like forgiveness, is not an emotion. Thankfulness is an intelligent response of gratitude to God.”

Giving thanks is not just something you do in response to a gift or when you remember God’s mercy but for Christians it is a lifestyle. When we see only tragedies in life and not triumphs then our hearts turn cold. As Christians we are told to give thanks at all times and for all things. Every day is thanksgiving.

This month is thanksgiving. Maybe you have a long list of things to be thankful for. Maybe you have been going through a difficult time recently and are having a hard time giving thanks. Whatever the case we are called as Christians to live a life of thanksgiving.
Henry Ward Beecher, “If one should give me a dish of sand and tell me there were particles of iron in it, I might look for them with my eyes and search for them with my clumsy fingers and be unable to detect them; but let me take a magnet and sweep through it and now would it draw to itself the almost invisible particles by the mere power of attraction. The unthankful heart, like my finger in the sand, discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings, only the iron in God’s sand is gold!”

This month we set aside a time to give thanks. Every good and perfect gift comes from above. Remember this month you have many reasons to give thanks. Return to the feet of Jesus and offer that thanks and may we daily live a life of thanksgiving before everyone we meet.

Some years ago, Charles Schulz pictured Charlie Brown bringing out Snoopy’s dinner on Thanksgiving Day, but it was just his usual dog food in a bowl. So, Snoopy took one look at the dog food and said, “This isn’t fair. The rest of the world today is eating turkey with all the trimmings and all I get is dog food. Why? Because I’m a dog, so all I get is dog food?” He stood there and stared at his dog food for a moment, then he said, “I guess it could be worse. I could be a turkey.”

So, don’t be a turkey, make it a habit to say thank you.

Thank you Church for all you do!