Thanksgiving is such a wonderful holiday. I've had some special opportunities attached to Thanksgiving. I have had the pleasure of being raised with a thankful family that introduced me to the traditional turkey-stuffing-cranberry sauce-pumpkin pie feast, sometimes at our house and sometimes at grandparents' place. I've had the childlike joy of being in the press at Central Park West for the Macy's Parade. One Thanksgiving we celebrated with the Kobayashi's in their classic Japanese dining room with sunken seating and rice paper panels. The menu was Japanese-American as well. In New England our family tradition became to invite anyone from our church who didn't have family in the area to come eat with us. And this year, we ate Thanksgiving on the beach, just south of the Santa Monica pier! Without a doubt, the most blessed Thanksgiving was in 1985, when our youngest daughter came into the world. Happy Birthday, Angel!
Unfortunately, there is a sad piece to Thanksgiving, the piece where so many treat it as "Thankfulness Day" and not Thanksgiving Day. You see, to me, being thankful means being happy about one's circumstances; of appreciating one's advantages and possessions. Thankfulness is a state of being or a condition. "Thanksgiving" is an act; an act of communicating gratitude to the One who is the source of my blessed circumstances, advantages and possessions. Being thankful must lead to giving thanks. As James said in the first chapter - "Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father ..." If only more thankfulness would result in worshipful thanksgiving.
Today's text deals with people who aren't even satisfied with what they have. They want more, and they'll do what it takes to get it. They will even resort to violence. This is craziness. James says, "You don't have what you want because you haven't asked God for it." What a concept! Ask God. Have we considered how much quarreling, fighting and war could be eliminated from our lives if we would learn to pray? Wow - the opposite of war isn't peace, it's prayer! It's the contrast between an action and a condition again. War is an action. Sometimes it produces a kind of peace, but usually that peace comes as a vanquishing or exhausting of our opponent. That's not the best kind of peaceful condition - one that comes out of the destruction or defeat of another. But let us wage prayer like we wage war. Prayer is the action that stands opposite war's violent action. The peace of prayer comes not from destruction but from reconciliation. The best kind of peace - where all parties win!
To give thanks and pursue prayer unto peace is pleasing to God. Seek to please God first and foremost. Everything that pleases God is also a blessing to humanity. He knows what's best for us. HE is best for us. To please God is to participate in and enjoy God's pleasure. And there is no better pleasure than God's pleasure. It's not a matter of Him getting His or me getting mine. It isn't either-or; it's both-and.
To grasp and apply this requires humility. The proud will be thankful but never give thanks. The proud will pursue their selfish desires and do whatever it takes to attain them. The proud will continue to quarrel and fight and wage war. And God will oppose the proud but give grace to the humble. The humble will pray and prioritize the pleasure of God. They will draw near to God, and God will draw near to them. They shall be the friends of God.
Pray: God of grace and all good gifts, humble me. Remove every bit of self-centeredness from me and every tendency to fight for my own self-satisfaction. Make me a prayer warrior. And make me a pleasure for You to behold. And thank you, my Father. Thank you for everything You have blessed me with. You are generous beyond description.
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