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The subject of my daughter’s Bible study three weeks ago was: "It is a serious evil to have more regard for God’s blessings than for God Himself." Then, my husband received this message last Sunday at church from 1 Corinthians 6: “Brothers should not go to court against brothers, especially before unbelievers (because we destroy our witness).”INSIGHT: When we come to Christ, we give up our title to all earthly possessions, and we receive eternal possessions that are fabulous beyond imagination. All of the riches of Christ are ours as co-inheritors with Him; all those things that we might have viewed as possessions must now be seen as "on loan." We are now merely administrators, stewards of these things that belong to the Lord. We must hold them loosely with an open hand, not as possessions, and use them as we believe Christ would." Are we using God’s blessings to bless others? Are we takers, and not givers? Did you ever stop to wonder what is at the root of it? A few days ago during my devotional time, the Lord brought King Uzziah to mind, and a commentary of his story opens like this: “We are never closer to failure than during our greatest successes. If we fail to recognize God’s part in our achievements, they are no better than our failures. King Uzziah overestimated his own importance in bringing about the great achievements he experienced. His pride, listen to this, was rooted in his lack of thankfulness. He’d forgotten not only how much God had given, and done for him, but also that God had certain roles for others in his life that he needed to respect. So, at the peak of his fame he tried to take on a role that did not belong to him." You will find his story in 2 Chronicles 26:1-22. God dealt with his pride and lack of thankfulness. We may never achieve as much, as Uzziah but we still owe God thanksgiving for our very lives. Let us never forget God’s sovereignty: He can give and He can take away. So, as Thanksgiving approaches, and as a means to search our hearts, I decided perhaps God wants me to share the above with everyone. I am not driven to send this to you because I may think you are a thankless person. I just want it to encourage you. Let us remember the "roles" in Uzziah's life; some people have specific roles for our lives. Mine is to love you, and encourage you toward good things. Thanksgiving has become a feasting holiday, because many people concentrate on engorging themselves in food, but (the Reason for the feast) - Jesus, is often not even invited to dinner, and a prayer of thanksgiving is not said to honor Him. Sort of what we do with Jesus at Christmas time. I remember that in our family, not too many years ago, that was exactly what we did. I thank God for opening our eyes. The truth is, we have all lived thankless, self-centered, and self indulging lives until God convicts our hearts. We enjoy what God has given us from the well of His abundance, goodness, and grace, but some times, we do not take time to give Him a second of praise, to honor His goodness to us. We do this mostly because we have made Him so irrelevant in our lives that we simply do not care if He approves of our attitudes or not. We love the “stuff” He gives us: a family to love and to hold, a house (even without expensive furniture) to shelter us, a car (even if not a Rolls Royce) to take us here and there, clothes (even if not designer brands) to cover our nakedness, and shoes (even if not expensive) to protect our feet, a good brain/sound mind so we can be productive, a job to provide money to buy the things we need. But sadly, some times we also learn to covet more because we did not take time to be thankful or give something back to the Giver of all those gifts. We become covetous for more, bigger, better, more expensive and some times at the expense of our own souls. Is it worth it? An empty heart of thankfulness to God is like a big empty house; it is pleasing to the eyes, but it has no usefulness until you put furniture in it. Our thankfulness will make us useful. Our worth is not measured by how well dressed we are, or the luxury we live in. God says we are like pearls valuable and treasured by Him. What He says about us is the source of our self-esteem. An expensive or a small gift given you are not the measure of your worth, one way or the other, and neither are the clothes you wear, the house you live in or the car you drive. We are commanded not to “love” the world (1 John 2:15), and the things of the world. Wordliness begins in the heart. What values are important to you? Do your actions reflect the world’s values or God’s values? Then, there is the misuse of God’s gifts to us to abuse drugs/liquor, gamble, to abuse and neglect our families, to be lazy at work, and at home, and to never use our talents to serve others somehow. We should all live with an attitude of gratitude because God calls us fools (Luke 12:16-21) to those of us who "store our riches in barns," instead of sharing the blessings, and appreciating God's goodness to us. We never know when God will call us home - it may be too late by then to make amends. I hope we all take time to thank God because none of us is where he/she is today without God's intervention. I hope we all take time each day to say, “Thank You, Lord, for all your blessings that I am not worthy to receive, but by your grace alone.” And when Thanksgiving comes, and as you sit at the table to eat, remember the Giver of all gifts. If not, perhaps you need to remember King Uzziah. Then, think again. Happy Thanksgiving!!!
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