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Being Thankful Even When We don't Want to Be

by Jerry Ousley  
11/07/2009 / Holidays

Another Thanksgiving Day. Of course we should be thankful each and every day of our lives, but today we have set aside a special holiday whose theme is to be thankful. We've got a lot to be thankful for. The economy may be bad. Some have lost their jobs and some have even lost their homes, yet we are alive which means that we've had food and clothing. It may not be what we've been used to but still God has been good to us.

I have to remind myself of these things often. It's easy, when we have been used to having more, to complain, grumble and gripe because things have changed. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 tells us that we should be thankful in all things also stating that this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning us. Does this mean that we should be thankful for the bad experiences, tragedies, sicknesses, hurts and pains in our lives? I don't think we should be thankful for those negative experiences but I do believe that we should be thankful for how God brings us through them and for the lessons we learn from them.

I remember the first Thanksgiving wherein I discovered the wonderful taste of turkey. More than likely I had eaten it before that but I couldn't remember it. This was a lot of years ago and I was very young. For some reason I don't remember eating turkey before that day. But I vividly remember that particular time. I thought it was the best meat I had ever tasted in my very short life. To this day turkey continues to be one of my favorite meats. Most people complain about all that left-over turkey but not me. I just love all those turkey sandwiches, turkey this and that that stems from trying to use up what's left of that bird. So I guess that's one thing I'm thankful for; I'm thankful that God gave us turkey.

Being thankful means that we give God the glory and we are grateful for today. But are we really thankful? We should be. You see, those who believe in God, trust Him, and have given Him their lives, have been granted the privilege of being taken care of by Him. Even those who haven't given themselves to God, don't believe in Him and wouldn't even think about trusting Him benefit as a byproduct of His blessings.

Jesus told a story in Matthew 18 that illustrates how many live today. He told of a king who decided it was time for all his debtors to pay up. One particular servant owed a great debt. It might as well have been a million dollars and the king knew that there was no way that this servant would ever be able to repay him in his lifetime. So he ordered this servant and his family to be sold as slaves in order to recover some of his investment.

The servant fell at his feet and begged him for more time. The king, knowing that the rest of the servant's life wouldn't yield repayment, felt sorry for the man and so he graciously forgave him of it all. He wiped his slate clean.

Now you'd think that this servant would have been grateful; so grateful in fact that his life would have been changed; but nothing doing. He left the king's court, went straight out to a fellow servant who owed him a small amount let's say fifty bucks. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded that he pay it in full right then and there. When he couldn't this ungrateful servant had his fellow servant thrown into prison until he could pay up. Of course, when the king found out about it he did the same thing to this wicked, ungrateful servant.

We might say that we'd never do such a thing. But is this true? How often have we had hard feelings towards a fellow human being who might owe us, even after we have been forgiven of such a great debt of sin towards our King God our provider; God Almighty?

This day commemorates being thankful. But perhaps it's high time that we learn to really be thankful, and not just on Thanksgiving Day. Many of our lives have changed. With the Christmas season rapidly approaching we may not be able to buy all the gifts for our children as we once did. Maybe it's going to be a very lean year. But still we can be thankful.

If we are really thankful, and we express that not only to God but to others then isn't that a gift that will not only change our lives, but will also calm the storms that may be in our hearts?

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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