“Praise the Lord! Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy is everlasting.” (NKJV)
Thanksgiving should not be seasonal for the Christian; rather it should be an integral of his or her lifestyle. The psalmist showed us why we should praise and give thanks to the Lord: “for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” Thanksgiving should arise in our hearts because of God’s goodness to us. He shows His goodness to us by everything that happens in our lives. We might think that His goodness is not shown during the bad times of our lives, but those might be among the best times of our lives. I can look back over my life and see how good has always come out of the bad things that happened in my life. It is during those times that God has taught me and deepened my faith in Him. I have many testimonies from other Christians who are in agreement with me. That’s why Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:20: “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul was an expert in giving thanks for “everything.” Take 2 Corinthians 6:4-5 as an example: “But as God’s ministers we commend ourselves in everything: by great endurance, by afflictions, by hardship, by difficulties, 5. by beatings, by imprisonments, by riots, by labors, by sleepless nights, by times of hunger…” There is more, but these should suffice to show that Paul knew what he was writing about when he wrote that we give thanks “always for all things.” No difficult time seems good at the time, but when we look back we see that God was doing a great work in our lives for our good. We should nott, however, forget the good things that He does for us that are not difficult. Think about your own life for a moment. Do you have a family? Thank God. Do you have good friends? Thank God. Do you have a job? Thank God. Can you breathe? Thank God. You get the idea. There are many ways that God has been good to us, but nothing compares to His giving His Son to die on the cross for our sins, and saving us when we put our faith in Him. If you will put your mind to it, you will be able to think of many, many things in your life that you can thank God for. If you can’t, you really need to get your priorities straight and focus on Him. Psalm 106:1 also reminds us that: “His mercy is everlasting.” This means that God will never run out of mercy. That is good news, because if He did we would really be in trouble. Think of living in a world where we only had God’s wrath to look forward to. It wouldn’t be pretty. Isn’t it great that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”? That is mercy. God treats us better than we treat each other, and for that we should be grateful. In His mercy, God wants the best for us. He doesn’t want us to wallow in sin. He doesn’t want us to live in misery. He doesn’t want us to go through life feeling guilty. He has arranged things so that we do not have go through these, and other, things. It amazes me that people do go through all of these things, even Christians, but the fact is that we do not have to. We should be thankful that His mercy helps us live better lives. I have counseled with people over the years, who were miserable and there didn’t seem to be anything that could take them out of their misery. There was/is a “Bible filled with answers to all of their dilemmas, but often they would not pay attention to that. It must break God’s heart when He offers great mercy and people choose not to take Him up on it. His mercy is available to all who will call on Him, and it is everlasting mercy. We should be thankful that God is the God mercy. Meditate on God and His part in your life, and see that He is good to you and that His mercy applies to you. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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