A Thanksgiving Message

For some of you, there isn’t a thanksgiving message that you haven’t heard; but my purpose is not to write something original as it is to give a timely message. I believe it is what the Lord would have us as a church meditate on. It has to do with the accelerated secularization and paganization of America. More and more we see our beloved nation moving away at warp speed from our Christian roots. The Pilgrims and their original thanksgiving to God for the preservation of their lives and His provision for their needs is no longer just a distant memory but it is disappearing amid the secular and materialistic celebration of “Turkey Day” if you please. Pageantry, increasingly divested of Christian themes, is in and thanking the God of the Bible is out. Furthermore, we see our national heritage being reformulated by a “potpourri” of celebrations that rightly celebrate the rich diversity of our nation, but tragically overshadow the traditional way we used to celebrate national holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas.

But there is something more that we need to preserve particularly among Christian families. I am talking here about the insidious effect that secularization is having on how we converse with each other within our family life. We need to ask ourselves just how many memories about God’s provisions and blessings are being preserved for us and our children. Is the Lord acknowledged enough in our daily family conversations. Do we discern His current working among our families to preserve our health, meet our daily needs, rescue us from sudden predicaments or provide us with special guidance and inner peace during troubled times such as we are now undergoing in America. Is there provision for “God Talk” in our family life, or is our speech identical to what could be heard in the world of “Desperate Housewives,” “Heros,” and “House.”

When Josiah (II Chronicles 35) made a passionate attempt to de paganize his fading Kingdom of Judah, he led his people in the full celebration of Passover for the first time in about 300 years (see 35:18). He had been given a great awakening about his people’s need to be conversant about (see Exodus 12:24-27) and appreciative of their glorious past. He wanted to be obedient to the recently discovered Law of the Lord (see 34:14-15), which placed a premium on remembering and celebrating God’s great deeds of redemption. We, too, need to be filled with a new sense of awe for God’s redeeming acts, His Salvation in Jesus Christ as well as acknowledging God in our daily conversation regarding His current blessings. But that takes learning the “language of the Holy Spirit,” by praying in the Spirit, and praising JEHOVAH-JIREH, our great provider.