Thanksgiving Calls For Thanks-living

“Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people" (Chr. 16:8).
“Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness" (Ps. 30:4).
“Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him and bless his holy name" (Ps. 100:4).
“Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Ep. 5:20).

The Lord God who is seated upon the throne of all the universe commands His people to be thankful. Thankfulness doesn’t mean that we are laughing and giggling like some twit. You can be thankful with tears of sorrow coursing down your cheeks. You can be thankful in the midst of disappointment. You can be thankful in the face of personal crisis. When you are thankful you are in the will of God; when you are unthankful you are out of the will of God. 1 Thess 5:18 tells us, “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

Don’t tell me you can’t be thankful because God has said you can. Our Father never gives a command that he doesn’t also give the ability to carry it out. The story is told of John Gray, a preacher who never failed to thank God, no matter how bad things got. One Sunday he battled through wind and sleet to preach at a little village. The congregation was small. The people wonder what the preacher would could find to be thankful for. When it came time to pray, the preacher lifted his eyes toward heaven and said, “This is a wretched day, dear Lord, no doubt about it; but we thank Thee, Lord, that ever day isn’t as bad as this one!”


We are never more like Christ than when we are giving thanks to God, and we are never more like the lost world than when we are unthankful. Thankfulness rises from an obedient heart, while unthankfulness rises from a disobedient heart. The word “thank” in the Bible comes from the word eucharisteo (this is the word from which we get eucharist). The root word is charis. This is the word for "grace." Grace means we get something that we do not earn or deserve. We’ve heard people at the supper table asking someone to say grace. This is Scriptural. When you say thank you to God, you are saying I don’t deserve what I’m getting; you are saying thank you.

There was a man named Thomas at the second church I pastored in the 1990s. He was dying of Emphysema. He contracted the disease as a result of chemicals he was exposed to at his work site as a young man. He died a slow death by suffocation. I preached his funeral. At Thomas’ request they sang the Chris Kristofferson song “Why Me Lord.”

Why me Lord?
What have I ever done
To deserve even one
Of the pleasures I’ve known?
Tell me, Lord, what did I ever do
That was worth lovin’ you
Or the kindness you’ve shown?

He lived in such agony and struggled for every breath, yet he truly experienced eucharisteo. His last testimony stuck with me through all these many years. I cannot remember for-the-life-of-me what text I read or what I said, but I remember the hymn of thankfulness that Thomas requested.

We should give thanks personally. The best way to show our thankfulness is “Thanks-living”. Terry W. York said it so well in his poem that has found its way into our hymnal.

Our life and its sustaining breath
And life that’s promised after death
Come from God our heavenly Father.
He gives us freedom from our fears;
Food, friends, and purpose thro’ the years.
All the words of our Thanksgiving fail to say what we can show by our Thanks-living.

A life of living thankfulness
Moves lifeless words to willingness;
Willingness to serve our Father.
That service, born of love, demands
Our hearts, our minds, our strength, our hands.
All the words of our Thanksgiving fail to say what we can show by our Thanks-living.

Our deepest love and highest praise
In both routine and festive days,
Sing of You, our heavenly Father.
Yet while our songs of praise arise
Deep in our hearts we realize
All the words of our Thanksgiving fail to say what we can show by our Thanks-living.

The Story of Shep: Fort Benton's Famous Dog

(source:fortbenton.com)


During the summer of 1936 a sheepherder fell ill while tending his flock and was brought to the St. Clare Hospital in Fort Benton, Montana. A nondescript sheep dog had followed the herder into town and soon set up a vigil at the hospital's door. A kind hearted nun who ran the hospital kitchen fed the dog during those few days before the man died. The herder's family in the East requested that his body be sent back home. On that August day the undertaker put the body on the east-bound train for shipment to his waiting relatives. As the gurney was rolled out onto the platform, a big gaunt shepherd dog with watchful eyes appeared out of nowhere and watched as the casket was loaded into the baggage car. Attendants later recalled the dog whining as the door slammed shut and the engine slowly started to pull away from the station, then head down, turning and trotting down the tracks. On that day the dog, later named Shep, began a five-and-a-half year vigil that was only broken by his death.

Day after day, meeting four trains daily, Shep became a fixture on the platform. He eyed each passenger hopefully, and was often chased off as a mongrel but never completely discouraged. Neither the heat of summer days nor the bitter Montana winter days prevented Shep from meeting the next train. As Shep's fame spread, people came from everywhere to see him, to photograph him, and to try and make friends and possibly adopt him. All of the attention was somewhat unwelcome; after checking the train he often retired quickly to get away from those who came to see him.

Most people missed the point that Shep was a one-man dog. The bond he had formed with the herder many years before was simply the most important thing is his life. Food, shelter and attention were now provided by the railroad employees. That was all he wanted, except his master's return. Shep was an older dog when he came to the station house in Fort Benton. Throughout his vigil the long nights under the platform and the cold winter had taken their toll. Stiff-legged and hard of hearing, Shep failed to hear old 235 as it rolled into the station at 10:17 that cold winter morning. He turned to look when the engine was almost upon him, moved to get out of the way, and slipped on the icy rails. Shep's long vigil had ended.


Shep's funeral was held two days later. He was laid to rest on the bluff overlooking the station where his long wait had been in vain. The sights and sounds of the singing rails and the whistles around the bend are all gone now, also passing with time. No passenger trains pull into the station today, but Shep still maintains his lonely vigil atop the wind-swept bluff overlooking the abandoned depot. (internet source: fortbenton.com)

Our Lord’s return is imminent. In the light of this, we watch and wait. May we be found faithfully watching when He comes again. Second Timothy 4:8 reads, “Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

Saved For A Purpose

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. (Luke 4:16-20)

Jesus fully understood His purpose. Above, Luke records Jesus reading from the scroll of Isaiah. The passage He read outlined the mission of the Messiah; Jesus is the Messiah of whom Isaiah prophesied.

Jesus came to do the will of the Father. Jesus’ purpose superseded everything else. All He did enhanced and feed into that purpose. If it didn’t help Him fulfill His purpose, then He did not waste His time with it. For example, He often escaped the crowds who wanted to crown Him as king and after performing healing miracles He told the peopled healed not to reveal who healed them; He did not cater to the whims of the fickle crowd even when it worked to His advantage to please the people. He intended to obey God and not man. Jesus came to die and be raised again; He had a date with destiny so-to-speak and He intended to keep that date!

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, then you were saved for a purpose. Are you living a purposeful life? Henry Blackaby wrote:

You cannot stay where you are and go with God. You cannot continue doing things your way and accomplish God’s purpose in His ways. Your thinking cannot come close to God’s thoughts. For you to do the will of God, you must adjust your life to Him, His purpose,and His ways.

It is the height of arrogance and nearly blasphemy for a person to come to Christ and look deeply into his life and study His heart and walk away saying “I’m close enough; I do not need top grow in Christlikeness.” To worship Jesus calls for a decision. Everyone who reads this devotion is making a decision. We are humbly moving toward Jesus or we are defiantly moving away.

Our father has a wonderful plan for your life. The question is, Are you actively pursuing God’s will or are you just sort of meandering along? Several years ago I wrote out my life purpose statement. I did this to clarify my thinking and to make sure I stayed on course. Here is what I wrote:

My life purpose statement: My greatest desire is to glorify God by loving Him completely, being a Godly father and husband, and living an authentic life so others may come to know Jesus Christ. My life verses: John 3:16 and Galatians 2:20.

Pray and write out your life purpose statement. Put it where you can see it and be daily reminded of why God saved you from an meaningless existence!