The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Thinking and Thanking"
If we think well, we will thank well.
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, in whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (James 1:17).
"He giveth to all life and breath and all things" (Acts 17:25).
Common decency should frequently lead every human heart to the altar of gratitude to God. Sadly, this does not characterize the chronicle of human history. Thanksgiving does not come naturally to those born of Adam's race. We see this in human relationships, wherein children must be taught to express gratitude. In relationship with God, His trusting children in Christ must be continually exposed to our Lord's light if we are to maintain genuinely thankful hearts and minds. Every committed believer in the Lord Jesus seeks to avoid giving thanksgiving as mere ritual. Such observance, practiced as merely rite or ceremony, may constitute a greater error than no expression of gratitude at all. One of God's severest rebukes of Israel included His sorrow that His people served Him without heart, or rather with mere ritualistic observance (Deuteronomy 5:29). The Apostle Paul also chastened the Galatian believers for such sterile response to God (Galatians 4:9-11). We can fall victim to the the same temptation, a possibility that beckons us to seek a grateful heart in truth and sincerity.
Interestingly, an illuminated mind has much to do with a genuinely thankful heart. The Scriptures offer on page after page reasons for which to express gratitude to God, a primary motivation for being consistent in our reading and pondering of His Word. The Holy Spirit works incessantly to teach and remind us of our Father's ongoing graciousness, revealed in countless ways and means. People also serve as beacons to remind us that, as the hymnwriter beautifully intoned, "Out of His infinite riches in Jesus, He giveth and giveth and giveth again." The world in which we live, "full of the goodness of the Lord," furthermore serves as an ongoing witness to a Heavenly Heart of grace more generous than even eternity will fully reveal (Psalm 33:5). Each of these messengers arrive at the doorstep of our minds to prompt our hearts to remember the Giver of "every good gift and every perfect gift." Thanksgiving ensues as we respond, genuine and sincere gratitude expressed as reality rather than ritual. "Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness" (Psalm 97:11-12).
Thinking well. Thanking well. The two go hand in hand, heart in heart. All along the paths of our lives, lights shine to illuminate our minds and hearts with reasons to gratefully rejoice in the Giver. We do well to look for the beacons, giving thanks in their revelation of God's gracious generosity, and the opportunity they provide to realize His undeserved, undying, and undeterred devotion to provide for those who trust Him…
"He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He now with Him also freely give us all things?"
(Romans 8:32)
Weekly Memory Verse
"Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; Him shalt thou serve, and to Him shalt thou cleave."
(Deuteronomy 10:20)
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