Thanks-Living

Our calendars and our culture tell us this is the week to be thankful.

But what if you don’t feel thankful? What if, for you, it’s been a difficult year?

The solution is to count your blessings. Celebrate God’s gifts to you. To try Thanks-Living.

I know, I know--times are tough. Unemployment is up. It’s hard to sell a house or get credit. The cost of just about everything is up. The H1N1 flu has some frightened and others grieving.

Plus our military's involvement with Iraq and Afghanistan seems like it'll never end. Many families will spend the holiday worrying about loved ones in harm’s way. Some will wake up on Thanksgiving Day convinced there’s more to be worried about than for which to be thankful.

Well hold on just a minute! Even though life can look pretty grim at times, it doesn’t mean God has forgotten us.

The Pilgrims knew that. So did Abraham Lincoln.

We’re not the first Americans struggling to feel thankful during trying times. Consider the plight of the Pilgrims before the first Thanksgiving feast in America.

The winter of 1620 was devastating. The harvest was almost non-existent. The cold was numbing. Parents saw children die in their sleep. There wasn’t much to celebrate.

But then came the bountiful harvest of 1621. The Pilgrims gathered to thank God for blessing them. Things could have been better but they also could have been much worse.

Fast-forward 242 years after that first Thanksgiving. Listen to the words of a man who faced different, but no less devastating, events.

Abraham Lincoln was President of half a country involved in a bloody battle with the other half. Yet in the middle of a war, he declared there was much for which the no longer united states could be thankful.

On Oct. 3, 1863--just two weeks after more than 34,000 Americans were killed or wounded in the battle of Chickamauga--Lincoln issued a proclamation establishing a National Day of Thanksgiving. His words bear repeating.

“The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies,” he wrote. “To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added…”

Lincoln went on to observe that America was at peace with foreign nations. Farming and industry continued, as did international trade. He said, “No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.”

“It has seemed to me fit and proper,” he continued, “that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States . . . to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”

If Lincoln and the Pilgrims could thank God in the midst of their trials, shouldn’t we be able to do the same? Surely our difficulties are no worse than theirs.

The Bible tells us to “Be thankful.” It reminds us to “Sing with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, do it giving thanks to God.” That’s Thanks-Living.

Listen to the Bible; it’s great for your soul!

Peace Process

One constant in history is violence. However, that’s not what you’d expect.

For millennia men have sought peace. But aggressors viewed peacemakers as weak and easily conquered. The only law aggressors seemed to respect is the one at the end of a gun barrel.

So to make peace takes more violence. What kind of twisted logic is that? Real-world logic.

In the real world, forced peace is not a true peace. It is only the absence of violence.

“Now hold on just a minute! Why can’t people just get along together?”

Anyone that’s attempted to stop a schoolyard fight quickly learns that telling fighting students to “Just get along” doesn’t bring lasting peace. Any truce is temporary. Usually the violence resumes on the street after school. Sometimes with tragic results.

Where did violence begin? According to the Bible, the first act of violence happened just outside the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve’s son, Cain, killed his brother, Abel.

Ever since we have lived in a violent world. For all our education and refinement, the human race still celebrates and revels in violence. Do you want evidence? Just check out the latest movie ads. Or think about some of the most popular sports around the world.

Most sports are violent or produce violence (post-game fights and destructive victory “celebrations”). In fact violence and sports are so connected that even our jokes make light of it.

Years ago I lived near a large city known for its fighting hockey team. A frequently told joke was one that said a group of men got in a fight downtown and a hockey game broke out!

Sadly, the back-story behind many individuals on sports teams includes domestic violence.

OK, so there are a lot of angry people in the world. How bad is that anyway?

Bad enough to destroy civilization. In the book of Genesis, God told Noah to build an ark because a flood would destroy the earth. Why? Because “The earth is filled with violence.”

The Bible says God hates those who love violence. (Somehow I don’t think God is a big sports fan. I’m not saying all sports are evil. But some are evidence of our violent tendencies.)

So how can we ever have peace? It comes one person at a time. And it happens when that person enters into a personal, peaceful relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

Jesus was one of the world’s greatest victims of violence. He suffered the most violent and painful execution man has yet devised--even though his judge said he was innocent!

Yet the record shows that Jesus was silent before his accusers. How was that possible?

The Bible says, “When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate. Instead he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.” Jesus knew that God’s justice would ultimately prevail. And he knew God’s plan would bring peace out of the violence he suffered.

Jesus could bring true peace because he had that peace. He said, “My peace I give you. Not as the world gives.” Jesus’ peace is not just the external absence of violence. It is an internal peace with God that allows one to be at peace with others.

Inner peace comes only when we give up trying to be our own savior through good works. It comes when we say, “Father forgive me and accept me, not because of what I have done but because of what Jesus Christ has done for me on the cross.”

The true peace process begins when we enter God’s kingdom through faith in Jesus Christ. Like Jesus, the most peaceful people in the world are those who entrust themselves to God.

To make peace we must first have peace. And the first step towards peace is turning to Jesus.

Listen to the Bible; it’s great for your soul!

Minute Memoir

Last week I learned something about my mother I never knew. When she was a girl, another student tried to drown her at the YMCA. She said her life flashed before her eyes.

One day your life will flash before your eyes. Will it be worth watching?

“Now hold on just a minute! What are you talking about?”

Most people probably think their life will flash before their eyes only if they come close to dying. Something like a Minute Memoir played back on fast forward.

But the Bible talks about a time when God will review our lives. It says we “will have to give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.” Then it adds we will give account to God of “every careless word” we speak.

Apparently God can hit the brain’s rewind button and replay our life for him and us to see.

What’s the point of having your life flash before your eyes? I’m not sure. It’s never happened to me. But if it did (and I lived to tell about it) I’m sure it would make me think seriously about my life.

Perhaps God gives some of us a preview just to remind us that he can do it. And will do it.

Sadly, many people live as if they’ll never be held accountable for their actions. They don’t think it’s fair. They don’t see how a loving God could ever judge (or punish) anyone.

But if God didn’t judge evil people, there would be no way for us to deal with the injustices of life. The only recourse we’d have would be revenge. And that’s a society I wouldn’t want to live in. Once the cycle of revenge is started it’s hard to ever end it.

Because God loves us, he reminds us that he will judge wickedness one day. Not only is it a reminder to the wicked that they will be held accountable, it also gives hope to those who suffer injustice at the hands of others.

The problem is that we’ve all done things we’re ashamed of. In our hearts we know we’ve hurt others. How can we face God without being condemned?

The good news of the Bible is that God sent Jesus Christ to take our punishment. The Bible says that God accepts Jesus’ death on the cross as payment for our sin. So that means the only question we face is this: “What will you do with Jesus?”

Other religions require you to pay for your own sins. But through faith in Christ we can be forgiven. Is that an offer anyone should refuse?

I hope you never see your Minute Memoir on this earth. But according to the Bible, one day God will play it back for you. When he does, will it be worth watching?

The best way not to worry about it then is to live well now. How do you do that?

A man once asked Jesus, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Speaking of himself Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

Listen to the Bible; it’s great for your soul!