Thankful for … By Pastor Brad
I
t’s November. Thanksgiving is around the corner and we have the annual reminder to be thankful. Many times when we are asked for what we are thankful, we tend to share some “thing” verses some “one.” If we have learned anything over the last few years, there are a lot of “whats” in our life for which we aren’t thankful. This list could include worsening weather, painful politics, floundering finances, or hazardous health to name a few. If we have learned anything, it is more important to be thankful for someone. Why would this be more important? Because our “whats” can be constantly in flux, here today and gone tomorrow. But those who stick around, whom we can call at
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Bay Area Houston Magazine | NOVEMBER 2021
3am, who have shown us love are the ones we should thank. God’s Word says, “A person of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” (Proverbs 18:24 ESV) When I personally think of whom to be thankful, at the top of my list is God. God has been there through thick and thin and has helped me so much in times of trouble. When I don’t feel His presence, don’t see His help or don’t know if He will deliver, I remember that God has always kept His promises. The proof of that is in Jesus Christ. He not only said words of encouragement, He actually backed them up with what He did. Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13 ESV) Then Jesus gave His perfect life as a sacrifice for my imperfect life. If He can keep this promise, then I know that He will be there for me no matter what happens. First, I am thankful for Jesus and second, I am thankful for those people in my life who are the
hands and feet of Jesus. Sometimes I forget that God shows up in people and what they do. When imperfect people show up with the perfect love of God, then I want to give thanks. Jesus said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35 ESV). Third, I am thankful for those imperfect people to whom I can show God’s perfect love. It says in the Gospel of Luke, “In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35 ESV). So let’s look around the table this Thanksgiving and thank the special people in our lives, starting with God who chose us first, then those who choose to love us and then those whom we choose to love. Thankful for you… for reading this article and choosing to be thankful. May God bless you with a Happy Thanksgiving!
