Tag: thankfulness

Counting Our Blessings

On July 13, 2021

Jas 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

Blueberries. Water. Measuring cup. Car. Gas. Grocery store. Vision. Family. Soap. Computer. Books. BIBLE.

That may seem like a strange start to an article but I think that the preceding words are just obscure enough, just “normal” enough, to deliver my point with the greatest clarity. So, what point am I trying to make exactly?

That we have blessings right under our noses every day – and that those blessings are delivered to us by the Father of lights (God). Now, those are just a few blessings I thought of off of the top of my head, but we all have many, many blessings in our lives. Let’s take this a bit further (stay with me here).

On this hot July day in 2021, I currently have a very reliable car and I have access to plenty of gas. Those are wonderful blessings, but on the downside my car also needs an oil change. I dislike getting oil changes, it’s boring and I have to deal with salesmen trying to get me to buy other things like tires and wiper blades. It also takes up a few hours of my day.

So, what do I concentrate on more, the great positives or the tiny negative? The fact that I have a great car and plenty of gas or the fact that I have to go to the dealership for a couple of hours to get an oil change? Sadly we (and by we I mean me) often concentrate on that one tiny negative aspect of something instead of on the vast multitude of blessings that God has given us.

In America today we really have to watch this. We live a life of comparative comfort and luxury compared to the rest of the world. When Jesus was speaking of the church at Laodicea in the book of Revelation, he spoke of their “riches” and how they had become reliant on their wealth instead of trusting in God:

Rev 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:

With our relative affluence here in America we sometimes have the tendency to take our blessings for granted. We can begin to think that we are supplying ourselves with our blessings and we can even start to resent anyone or anything that interferes with our machinations. We should all remember that our blessings come from God. Everything from food, clothing, and shelter to the very breath that sustains us, all comes from God.

When we think of our blessings in this manner we can begin to think on the positive aspects of our life instead of the negative. We start to see all of the wonderful things that God supplies us with every single day.

When we think of our blessings in this manner we can begin to live a life of thankfulness (to the Father of lights) for everything good we have in our lives. And, when we start to think of our blessings in this manner – that oil change doesn’t seem quite so bad.

Jesus, the Ultimate Blessing

By Jay

On May 31, 2021

In Bible & Doctrine

Last week I spoke of the blessings of normal life that are given to us by God, and while those blessings certainly are amazing, this week I’d like to shift course and discuss the ultimate blessing in our lives. After all, without this ultimate blessing all of our other blessings would be temporal and meaningless.

Often, when I think of Jesus I think of a kind and loving “Savior”. While Jesus most certainly is a kind and loving Savior we also must remember that He gave us the ultimate gift – the gift of salvation. He, the Creator of the Universe, came to earth and died an agonizing death on the cross. Above this, He bore the sins of mankind – and by His death we now have the hope of eternal life.

However, the point of this article is not to tell you something that you already knew, it is to remind us of something (I believe) we can often forget. I know that I have had times in my life where I partook of the Lord’s supper and barely regarded Jesus’ great gift to us. We cannot let this happen. Every first day of the week we should take our mind back to the cross and realize that Jesus gave us this precious gift of salvation, and that He suffered greatly so that we could have it.

Imagine a beautiful mansion on one thousand acres of gorgeous countryside. Now imagine that someone gave this to you along with two billion dollars. How would you feel about this gift? Would you consider it a great gift? A precious gift? Well, Jesus’ gift to us makes that gift laughable in importance and prestige.

Jesus offers us the gift of eternal life, which is a gift more valuable than mountains of gold and material wealth. As we go throughout our week (and on this coming first day of the week) let us take time to thank our Lord and Savior for His gift to us. Let us take time to enjoy and be grateful for the ultimate blessing in our lives.

The Blessings of Normal Life

By Jay

On May 24, 2021

In Bible & Doctrine

Too often (especially if things in our lives have been “normal” for a while) we tend to take the wonderful blessings we’ve been given for granted. We no longer seem to notice that we have food, we no longer seem to notice that we have clean water, we no longer seem to notice that we have shelter – and with the weather being what it has been lately – we no longer seem to notice that we have air conditioning! Instead of being thankful for all of these things we seem to isolate and complain about the things that we don’t have (trust me I’m talking to myself here).

It’s a shame that this is the case but I think it is a natural process for mankind to revert back to “taking things for granted”. Numbers 11 has a lot to tell us about this very topic. When the children of Israel were given manna every morning they couldn’t help but complain about how tired they were of the heavenly bread (Num 11:6). They also complained to the Lord about being freed from captivity – they said that they missed the fish and cucumbers they got to eat as prisoners in Egypt (Num 11:5).

As Christians today we need to be on constant guard against this issue in our own lives. It’s very easy to take things for granted and expect them to always be there, but God gives us every blessing. Without Him we would have nothing and we could do nothing:

Joh 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

If the pandemic has taught us anything it is the importance of normal life. Our everyday blessings and necessities are by far the most important ones in our lives. And while our physical blessings are certainly wonderful, our spiritual blessings are even more important. As the pandemic slowly fades (and with God’s help may it continue to do so) I pray that we all will be able to appreciate our daily blessings more than we ever have before, and I pray that in so doing we will give God the glory for every gift He bestows upon us.

1Co 1:31 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

P.S. Next week we’ll be discussing the greatest gift we have been given – the gift given to us by our Savior Jesus Christ.