Thursday, November 15, 2012

Thanksgiving

God is Ever Present

I will praise God's name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving. Psalm 69:30

Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday – a time for reflection and for spending time with friends and family, a time to give thanks for all the blessings we have in our life. Too often though, the holiday brings busyness, preoccupation with year-end expectations and demands, concerns over family dynamics, anxiety and stress. We sometimes find ourselves without a moment of peace and look forward to getting back to our usual routine.

With Thanksgiving fast approaching how about taking this moment to consider all that we are thankful for? Not only little things but the big things as well --we live in a free country, we are the richest nation in the world, we are highly educated…We also have a God who loves us, oh how He loves us! His grace and mercy are new each day; He is always there for us to receive when we turn to Him. In fact, each day can be full of thanksgiving as our Heavenly Father pours out His blessings on us, His beloved children.

For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 1 Timothy 4:4

Because God is ever present, with Christ everyday is a day of thanksgiving.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Winning Isn't Everything

God is Sovereign

For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Romans 8:20-22

Many of us are glued to our televisions in anticipation of this year’s presidential election. The vote is so close and the candidates positions so opposite. Given how divisive the election is, it appears that nearly half of the country will celebrate come November 7th and the other half will be bitter having lost.

So if your candidate does not win, then what? Living the next four years with resentment won’t benefit anyone, nor move the country closer to restoration. So how does one move forward? The Bible tells us we can find peace in all our circumstances by trusting that God is sovereign over all things. While that may be hard to accept, God is at work constantly using things that don’t seem fair or right to shape and refine our character and move His ultimate plan of redemption forward. Now that is a promise to move forward that we can depend on!

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:28, 31

Because God is sovereign, we can trust that God is at work in our lives and in the world around us through Jesus Christ.