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Giving Thanks
It is all a gift. All of it. Ok, there are some things that work against life, that are not a gift - but rather things that would like detract from the realization of the gift of life - but the ability to endure those things that undermine the gift is also a gift. Life is all about grace. Do we really get that? Do we really live it? When we do, living out our thanks becomes what life revolves around and draws it joy from. That realization is what prompts songs like this one:
Psalm 100
NIV
A psalm. For giving grateful praise.
1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
But giving thanks is not just about what is happening now, in spite of the tough stuff, but also living in the realization that a restoration of life pure and undefiled awaits us. The last chapters of the Bible describe it. The last paragraph of the book "The Great Controversy" anticipates it. Thankfulness is not just something we live now, but also what we anticipate in the future. This is what the author of Hebrews is talking about in Hebrews 12, and what Pastor Jon invites us to reflect on this morning. Take a few moments to read the passages and allow what they invite us to, to fully sink in.
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Hebrews 12:18-28
NIV
18 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19 to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20 because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” 21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”
22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
25 See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe
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