Sometimes it gets so
difficult to write. When so many life-changing things are happening day by day,
moment by moment, it is hard to isolate one particular topic to discuss. Today,
however, is the day before Thanksgiving Day in America. I choose to be
thankful.
The enemy wants to steal,
kill, and destroy. If you listen to/watch the news, you will see that he is
very successful in that mission. If we aren’t careful, we will believe that he
is winning. With so many bad things happening so frequently, sometimes it may
seem that God has thrown up His hands and given up on us. Don’t allow the
negativity in the world to cause you to lose sight of everything you have for
which to give thanks.
As Christ followers, we
have a responsibility (a commission, if you will) to show the world that there
is a better way. We are required to love each other, while the world is full of
hatred, distrust, and abuse. Don’t allow your emotions to keep you from
fulfilling your charge as a child of the Most High. Love those who hate you.
Love those who abuse and oppress you. Love those who even hate God. If Jesus
can request forgiveness for people killing Him, surely we can at the very
least pray for those who persecute us.
When it comes down to
it, none of us are worthy of salvation. We all may sin differently, but we all
sin. Those of us who have been redeemed from the hand of the enemy have plenty
to be grateful for. If we would focus more on what God has done for us, rather
than what people have done to us, we would be more willing to find solutions,
rather than magnify problems. There are people who will never understand your
struggle, but can they see the grace of God on your life?
God, I thank you for
sending your son, Jesus Christ to save me from my sins. I thank you for my
basic needs being met and so much more. Lord, I am grateful for the opportunity
to worship you publicly without being executed. I thank you for family and
friends with whom to spend the holiday. God, I thank you for your grace and
your mercy and for giving me another chance to be your ambassador in the
community in which I live. I thank you that I have a mind to be grateful for
all that I have without trampling over people to obtain more. Help us all to be
more like Jesus Christ, as we live in a world full of inequity and injustice. I thank you for your Holy Spirit living
inside of me to keep me in your will daily. Amen.
