Good morning,
The Other Side of Thanksgiving
This year in America Thanksgiving was very different than most of us have ever seen before. We have been used to family and friends and food and sports and looking back on the year. With all the confusion in America and in the world as a whole, and the demands by our government that we not get together this year made it feel really strange. When we were talking about this year it was easy to think in terms of what was going wrong and hard to think thankfully about God’s goodness. The darkness and hate around us makes it easy for us to hope for Jesus to come as soon as possible. What is hard for us to do is to think about the other side of Thanksgiving. What is going to happen next? What God longs for us to do is to be just as thankful about God’s promises for our future as we are about His goodness to us in the past. For example we are told, And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.(Rom.8:28) Does God know what he is doing and why we are still living here in times like these?
What our Enemy and our sinful world do their best is to get our focus on what might happen and so forget what our Savior and Lord have promised us. It’s very easy these days to forget or to not even think about about God’s time table. The real truth is, For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.(v.29) Our Enemy does his best to keep us so self centered that we don’t realize that God’s plan is, And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.(v.30) We will never be alone here on earth no matter what is going on around us. In God’s eyes he is allowing us to live our lives here now for His glory to be seen and demonstrated by how we live our lives in the middle of the darkness and confusion. Even now we should celebrate Thanksgiving because, If God is for us, who can ever be against us?(v.31) We need to remember that, Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one–(v.33) Who then will condemn us? No one–(v.34) Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?(v.35) No matter whatever we will face in the future God promises us, No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.(v.37)
What our LORD, our Savior, and His Holy Spirit long for us to do is to be thankful for all that the future holds for us as well as all that has happened to us in the past. Paul knew what he was writing when he wrote, And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow–not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love.(v.38) When we have a thankful heart toward our God and what he has promised us for eternity we will also be able to live with joy and thanksgiving like Paul when he wrote, No power in the sky above or in the earth below–indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.(v.38) Dear Lord, please help us to be thankful about our future that will always be under your control.
Romans 8:31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?
Roy Wisner
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