Thanksliving

This week as many of us were celebrating Thanksgiving we posted things we were thankful for. I loved reading through all the tweets and facebook posts as most were very sincere. As I read them it made me think of things I am thankful for; The Lord Jesus Christ, family, friends, health, wealth, my job, etc. The second thing it made me think is, “why are we not more positive and thankful everyday?”

There is a whole holiday called “Thanksgiving” and if this is a holiday should’nt giving thanks be something we do all the time? The Bible says in Psalm 107:4, “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!” If we cannot think of anything else to be thankful for on a daily basis then there is one right there! His love endures forever, AMEN! I think we should turn Thanksgiving into Thanksliving. Think about how much more positive your day, year or even life would be if everyday you mentioned to God, yourself and others the things you are thankful for. Thankfulness really does and will change the atmosphere around you.

As we are in our series “Canvas” two of the things I am thankful for are; 1) That he is not done with me as one of His masterpieces 2) that His masterpieces have a purpose. God has continued to show me areas in my life that need to be touched up over the last couple of weeks because like every great work of art he intends for my life (and yours) to be on display.

Ephesians 2:10 in the NLT says, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago”. Through our series we have looked at the first section of this verse and this weekend we will be looking at the last part that says He has created us for good works. The conclusion of God’s masterpiece is for us to be on display so that others can come to know Christ through the great things He has done in us and through us. 2 Peter 2:9 puts it this way, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light”. The first part is the work He has done in us and the second part is the purpose of the work = To be on display for His glory!

I believe one of the ways we can be on display for Him is through daily and continually giving God thanks for all the amazing things He continues to do for us, His children. Let’s not wait for a holiday called Thanksgiving to do this but instead let’s start Thanksliving.

Dream Big
Ben Brinkman