Happy Thanksgiving from PBC!
We have officially entered the “Holiday Season.” Although, I use the term “season” loosely, since many stores have had Christmas decorations up since the beginning of October. Because of this, it is rather easy to get caught up in all the festivities that come with the “season.” However, we need to stop and remember Thanksgiving. Many years ago, in an effort to do this, a trend started sweeping social media. People would post things they are thankful for each day in November. Some posts were funny, but most tended to focus on family, friends, or other meaningful events in their lives.
For instance, I am grateful for my beautiful, gracious, and loving wife. I am grateful for both my children and the incredible ways they have grown as individuals and as followers of Christ. I am thankful for my church family; the support they have given me through the years and the recent growth we have experienced in the past few months. God has blessed me in many ways on this Earth, but as a follower of Christ, there are several spiritual blessings that I am thankful for.
To begin, I am grateful that God loved me first. 1 John 4:19 says, “we love because he first loved us.” Until I experienced real love in Christ, I could have never truly loved anyone in my life. It is impossible for anyone to give something away that they have never received. I love my wife and children, but without the love of Christ in my life, my love would be based on human effort, and that love would inevitably fail. But God demonstrates for us the depth of true love. Ephesians 2:4-6 declares, “but God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” I am thankful for the example of love that Jesus has shown me in my life. It is because of that love, and through Him alone, that I can love those around me.
Furthermore, I am thankful for the cross. Paul tells us in Galatians 6:14, “but far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” The cross displayed the depths of God’s love. It was at the cross where my pardon was secured, and my sin was ultimately defeated. It was on the cross, with His dying breath, Jesus proclaimed “it is finished!” Each of us, “were dead in our transgressions and sins” (Eph 2:1), but it is in the cross where we find life in Christ. Paul drives the point home in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” My fellow believers, may we be thankful and boast only in the cross today, tomorrow, and forever.
Another spiritual blessing that I am thankful for is the resurrection of Christ. At the cross, Jesus defeated sin; at the empty tomb, He crushed death. 1 Cor 15:54b-55 declares this victory loudly, “death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” You see, we do not have a dead leader, we have a victoriously resurrected King! We can go to the tomb and proclaim with the angel “behold, He is not here, He has risen just as He said” (Matt 28:6). The resurrection brings hope to the hopeless, peace to the struggling, and grace to the undeserving. This is certainly a reason to be thankful.
Finally, I am thankful that I can worship Him. John captures this in Revelation 5:12-13 with the words, “worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing! …To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” The greatest privilege I have as a believer is the honor to worship my Savior. The fact that I–a broken, unworthy, and disobedient human–can stand in the presence of a holy God and worship Him is simply awe-inspiring. Even though I still struggle with sinful nature every day, I am still invited into His presence, counted as forgiven, and worthy to worship. I strive to never take that for granted.
This Thanksgiving, take a break from the fast-paced festivities and commercial rush to Christmas, and instead, take meaningful time to be truly thankful. Praise and worship God, not only for your Earthly blessings, but most importantly for your spiritual blessings.
Dusty Raines
Pastor for Adult Ministries
Palmetto Baptist Church