A Way of Life, not just a day

Someone complained that their trip to shop was a waste because there weren’t any real deals this year. It made me laugh. I think I understand that frustration but wonder-  Is it really worth it? Those who do this early Christmas shopping thing, Black Friday and all, expect to find real bargains.
But, we all know that life is so much more than the price we pay for our newest LCD TV or laptop PC.

In spite of that knowledge, there are some things we can do to retrain our mind and shift our emotions so that gratitude, not griping, is our first response to life’s disappointments, big and small.
We cannot allow “Thanksgiving” to just be a day to say ‘thank you’ to family and friends, to feel a flicker of gratefulness for the good things in our lives. We will be so much healthier physically, richer in spirit, and sweeter in relationships when we make Thanksgiving into “thanksliving.”
How can we do this?

Become generous!  Give things away freely. Share your time without parceling it out frugally. Listen intently.  Invest a portion of your income in charity.  In our church we teach tithing, based on the experience of the people of God in the Scripture. Tithing is presenting 10% of income to the Lord.  I believe that tithing is a guiding principle for our generosity, a baseline for the kind of generosity that helps to make us thankful people.

So much of our ‘charity’ today is stimulated by sad stories, pitiful pictures, or promises of ‘feel good’ recognition when our name goes on the wall!  In truth, generosity must grow beyond our feelings, to become a way of life, as purposeful as the investment strategy of Warren Buffet! We should look for worthy ministries, well run charities, and individuals that we can help onto their feet. In these ways, we put a portion of our resources, at least a tithe, to work for God. Gratitude grows in the fertile soil of generosity.

Worship deeply, regularly, and from the heart! True worship restores proper perspective, reminding us that we are not the center of the universe.  Carving 15 minutes into your morning schedule to look up and outside of yourself, to read a Psalm, to pray, to reconnect with the Lord God, will change your mind and heart.  Gathering with others to go through the patterns of worship is not just a good habit, it’s God’s ‘ask’ of us. “Don’t forsake the assembling of yourselves,” He says. True Worship is much more than some songs and a sermon. It is an acknowledgement of His primacy in life. In worship we learn how to live to bless.

Become aware of people around you!  Living a 'me centered' life is so natural.  “Serve me. Coddle me. Love me. Fit yourself to my needs.”  Looking for people to thank helps to destroy selfishness. We realize how much those around contribute to our well-being.

Give suffering and hardship a place in your life.  For some of you, that is just too much. Up to this point perhaps you were nodding in agreement, but now you’re shaking your head; “No way, not me.”

God can use the suffering to turn our hearts to Him and, if we find comfort in His promises and Presence, that suffering can make us beautiful people.

Moses, the great leader, when he was advanced in age, called the people of the Lord together to give them a serious warning.  He said, “God will bless you and you will likely become self-sufficient. Then, you will be tempted to forget to serve God." Read his words (it’s a long passage) and let them remind you of the importance of thanks-living.  "For the people of Israel belong to the Lord; Jacob is his special possession. He found them in a desert land, in an empty, howling wasteland. He surrounded them and watched over them; he guarded them as his most precious possession. Like an eagle that rouses her chicks and hovers over her young, so he spread his wings to take them in and carried them aloft on his pinions. The Lord alone guided them; they lived without any foreign gods. He made them ride over the highlands; he let them feast on the crops of the fields. He nourished them with honey from the cliffs, with olive oil from the hard rock. He fed them curds from the herd and milk from the flock, together with the fat of lambs and goats. He gave them choice rams and goats from Bashan, together with the choicest wheat. You drank the finest wine, made from the juice of grapes. But Israel soon became fat and unruly; the people grew heavy, plump, and stuffed! Then they abandoned the God who had made them; they made light of the Rock of their salvation." (Deuteronomy 32:9-15, NLT)

So, let's us give thanks, today, tomorrow, and each day- making gratitude a way of life.
This is the word from the Word - "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." (1 Thessalonians 5:18, NIV)
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Give Thanks

Give thanks with a grateful heart

Give thanks to the Holy One

Give thanks because He's given

Jesus Christ His Son

And now let the weak say I am strong

Let the poor say I am rich

Because of what the Lord has done for us

And now let the weak say I am strong

Let the poor say I am rich

Because of what the Lord has done for us

Give thanks

Henry Smith

© 1978 Integrity's Hosanna! Music (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing (Integrity Music [DC Cook]))

CCLI License # 810055

What's YOUR story?

I love a great story! Last night on CBS news they reported on a single man in Melrose, MA who runs a small vacuum cleaner repair business. Not wanting to be alone for Thanksgiving,  Scott McCauley put an ad in the local paper inviting up to 12 people to his home for Thanksgiving dinner. 33 years later, he prepares a meal at a local church, at his own expense, served to those who call him to reserve a place. 

This year he will serve about 50 people.  Why does he do it? "I think each of us are called to brighten a corner where we are and if everybody took care of their neighbor in their own neighborhood we'd have a much better world," he said. "Someday, maybe nobody will call me up and say they're coming for Thanksgiving dinner, and I'll be really happy that everybody's got a place to go."  (CBS News, 11/20/2018)

I hope you have someone to tell your stories tomorrow.  At many tables the conversation will start about the weather, football teams, and move on to personal tales. There will be heroic achievements and embarrassing remembrances of accidents, spills, and scrapes with the law. Most of them will have been told before and will be told again. It’s what we humans do. Our stories will make us laugh and cry, but they are more than entertaining. Stories define and explain us.  The more of your story I know, the better I understand who you are.

Authentic stories, told without embellishment or editing, will reveal the triumphs and failures, the hits and misses, of life.  Being able to talk about who we were, who we are, and who we hope to become is part of growing emotionally and spiritually.  When a person is loved enough to know they can tell their whole story, they can find redemption, forgiveness, hope, and change that flows from the inside out. That is why 12 step recovery groups like Alcoholics Anonymous create safe places for people to tell their real story, not the “fake news” that perpetuates a lie about life.  The truth is liberating, but leaves us vulnerable, so we need a loving place to tell it.

How I pray that the church which I am privileged to pastor will be a loving place full of authentic stories!  The love of Jesus, that story about His birth, His death, His Resurrection – all so that we could be reconciled to our Father, allows us to tell ourselves the truth and to find in Him that love that heals us and saves us.  Our natural impulse is to change our story, to conceal the ugly parts, to magnify the moments of success. Pride makes hypocrites of us. Jesus warns us about  “the yeast of the Pharisees—their hypocrisy. The time is coming when everything that is covered up will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all. Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be shouted from the housetops for all to hear!" (Luke 12:1-3, NLT)

So, what’s your story?

Have you written a fiction about yourself that has enslaved you?

Have you believed a lie that somebody told you, a falsehood that controls you to this day?

The God Who knows you best, loves you most! His love makes the truth safe to tell. John reminds that "If we claim that we’re free of sin, we’re only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins—make a clean breast of them—he won’t let us down; he’ll be true to himself. He’ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing. If we claim that we’ve never sinned, we out-and-out contradict God—make a liar out of him. A claim like that only shows off our ignorance of God. … if anyone does sin, we have a Priest-Friend in the presence of the Father: Jesus Christ, righteous Jesus. When he served as a sacrifice for our sins, he solved the sin problem for good—not only ours, but the whole world’s." (1 John 1:8-2:2, The Message)

I’m looking forward to some stories on Thanksgiving. And, I’ll tell a few myself. I hope that in them all there is a thread of faith, an echo of the love of Christ.

You are invited to a Service of Reflection, Thanksgiving, and Communion at
Faith Discovery Church, Wednesday, 11/21/2018, at 7 PM.

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Blessings

We pray for blessings

We pray for peace comfort for family

Protection while we sleep

We pray for healing for prosperity

We pray for Your mighty hand

To ease our suffering

And all the while You hear each spoken need

Yet love is way too much to give us lesser things

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears

And what if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You're near

And what if trials of this life

Are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom

Your voice to hear

We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near

We doubt Your goodness

We doubt Your love

As if ev'ry promise from Your Word is not enough

And all the while You hear each desp'rate plea

And long that we'd have faith to believe

When friends betray us

When darkness seems to win

We know that pain reminds this heart

That this is not this is not our home

It's not our home

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears

And what if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You're near

What if my greatest disappointments

Or the aching of this life

Is a revealing of a greater thirst

This world can't satisfy

And what if trials of this life

The rain the storms the hardest nights

Are Your mercies in disguise

Laura Story

© 2011 Laura Stories (Admin. by Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing, Inc.)

New Spring (Admin. by Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing, Inc.)

CCLI License # 810055

You Owe Me!

Want to kill any hope of feeling thankful this week? Convince yourself that you are being short-changed by life, that the world owes you something.  It’s called – entitlement. The thing is that it creeps up on us stealthily, starting with grievance, fed by disappointment. It grows like a weed and turns into a black hole of misery, in us, and for those around us.  What am I talking about?  

Saying or thinking things like - 

“God, why can’t I have the life my brother enjoys?”

“Why don’t my parents give me more like my friends get?”

"I deserve to be paid better than I am by that stingy boss."

"My kids owe me some gratitude after all I give up for them." And on the list goes....

One day Jesus was traveling and came upon ten men who were together in their awful misery. They were lepers. When leprosy (a broad term used to describe many skin conditions in that time) became evident that person was immediately separated from the community, as a means of keeping the spread of the disease to a minimum.  He could no longer live in his home, work in the community, or enjoy his family. Lepers lived a wretched life, beggars and scavengers to survive. Added to the social separation and physical pain, the leper dealt with the judgment of the community. It was generally assumed that it was the leper’s fault, the result of some sin in his life.  That day, those ten men somehow realized who was approaching.  Having heard about Jesus’ healing power, they started to yell- "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" He looked at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, their leprosy disappeared.” Luke 17:14 (NLT) Imagine their joy when they saw their skin clearing, all evidence of their leprous condition gone, given their desperate situation!

Now, here's the part of the story that I want to emphasize today. "One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God, I’m healed!” He fell face down on the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine?" (Luke 17:15-17, NLT)

9 of those men did not even think about being thankful. Who knows? Was it just the excitement of being healed, or did they somehow feel they deserved their miracle?

So many Christians have convinced themselves that God owes them more, better, happier, richer, healthier.  They fail to appreciate the best gifts of God -  salvation, peace, joy.  Why?  Because of entitlement!  Misreading the Bible and filled with Self, their prayers are turned into legal briefs that present their demands for action. Faith morphs into a 'gimme' system that says, "God, you promised; now, pay up!" How tragic, how misguided. Our Father in Heaven loves to bless and He does, but He owes you and me NOTHING. His gifts are based in grace, not merit.  What He desires is to walk with us, our lives a conversation full of grace, leading us to deep spiritual intimacy.

Entitled people never even think of thankfulness! Even when they enjoy life’s best, they are just convinced that God paid up, made good on the contract.  There is a terrible downside that goes right along with that idea. When things go badly, when life falls apart, those same people will beat themselves up wondering what they did that brought such grief on their heads. 

Mercy flows from the heart of our Father. Remember, He entered our broken world, in the Person of Jesus, to share our suffering and to give us salvation. The Psalmist reminds us - "He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust." (Psalm 103:9-14, NIV)

Are you grateful today?

Does thankfulness overflow from you?

Or is God asking, "where is the gratitude, where is the recognition of My mercy?"

I don’t want to like those 9 healed men that left Jesus without thanksgiving, do you?   

In this season of Thanksgiving, check your heart for areas where entitlement has taken up residence.  Humbly acknowledge the truth, and then, liberally give thanks - to God, to friends, to family.

Here is a word from the Word for meditation today.

"A psalm of thanksgiving.
Shout with joy to the Lord, O earth!
Worship the Lord with gladness.

Come before him, singing with joy.

Acknowledge that the Lord is God!

He made us, and we are his.

We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise.

Give thanks to him and bless his name.

For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever,

and his faithfulness continues to each generation." (Psalm 100, NLT)

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There will be a Thanksgiving service, celebrated with Communion, at Faith Discovery Church on Wednesday, Thanksgiving Eve at 7 pm. You're invited.

Thanks To God For My Redeemer

Thanks to God for my Redeemer

Thanks for all Thou dost provide

Thanks for times now but a memory

Thanks for Jesus by my side

Thanks for pleasant balmy springtime

Thanks for dark and dreary fall

Thanks for tears by now forgotten

Thanks for peace within my soul

Thanks for prayers that Thou hast answered

Thanks for what Thou dost deny

Thanks for storms that I have weathered

Thanks for all Thou dost supply

Thanks for pain and thanks for pleasure

Thanks for comfort in despair

Thanks for grace that none can measure

Thanks for love beyond compare

August Ludvig Storm

 Public Domain