Day 58: Give Thank(S) With A Grateful Heart
Read: Romans 8:31 - 39
Well, the day is finally here. It is Thank(S)giving day 2012. And,
well, yes, I did quite intentionally capitalize the 'S' to make a subtle
perhaps overlooked point. And that subtle perhaps even overlooked point
(as a wonderful friend reminded me yesterday) is that there is, was
and always shall be more than one reason for giving and being thankful.
I am asking you to think about it for a few moments if you will and
even if you wont - how does 'thankgiving' day look and sound to you? If
you could see what I just wrote you would see my spell checker has
underlined the word in 'red' (try it, and see for yourself). Concentrating on the
word, I can't help but feel there is something missing.
Life
is filled with questions, isn’t it, like why is it that all these spell
checkers tell you there needs to be an (S) in Thank(S)giving to spell it
correctly? Some questions just make us laugh while others make us
scratch our heads. Here are a few that I have come across… (1) Why do we
press all the harder on a remote when we know the batteries are going
dead? (2) Why aren't we thankful glue doesn’t stick to the bottle? (3) Why do we constantly return to the refrigerator with hearts of
thanks and voices of praise that something new to eat will have
materialized from when we last visited ten minutes ago? Yes, I fully
agree that these are subtly silly nonsensical questions.
As we
come to the end of Romans 8, we’re faced with a crescendo of questions.
See if you can spot (7) them: “What, then, shall we say in response to
this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his
own Son, but gave him up for us all-how will he not also, along with
him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against
those whom God has chosen? Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who
died-more than that, who was raised to life-is at the right hand of God
and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of
Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness
or danger or sword?
While most of these questions are
rhetorical, they are no less real and no less of a reason to give more
than one thank(S) to God for each of them. In fact, Paul is using this
method to get us to deliberately pause and ponder these amazing truths.
He’s also doing something else that is even more subtle, that is not
real evident in English. Instead of using connecting words, he’s
utilizing a Question and Answer format in a rapid fire manner, moving
quickly from one question to the next to build upon each point God is
trying very hard to make. You can't say 'thank you' one time and be done with it for the fullness and completeness of God's love for us, for Christ's once and for all sacrificial gift of everlasting salvation.
Let Us Pray: God of all blessings, source of all life, giver of all
grace: We thank you for the gift of life: for the breath that sustains
life, for the provision of this earth that nurtures life, for the love
of family and friends without which there would be no life. We thank you for this day: for this gift of life and one more day to love, for neighbors and one more person to love and by whom be loved, for your grace and
one more experience of your presence, for your promise: to be with us,
to be our God, and to give salvation through the life, death and
resurrection of Your Son Jesus Christ. For all these, and all the
heavenly blessings which are Yours alone to bestow, we give you all our
thanks, eternal, loving God, through Jesus Christ whom we do most solemnly pray this Thank(s)giving day 2012.
Amen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2_IZZNjdas
GIVE THANKS | Words & Music
www.youtube.com
Karaoke music video : GIVE THANKS praise and worship song.
Read: Romans 8:31 - 39
Well, the day is finally here. It is Thank(S)giving day 2012. And, well, yes, I did quite intentionally capitalize the 'S' to make a subtle perhaps overlooked point. And that subtle perhaps even overlooked point (as a wonderful friend reminded me yesterday) is that there is, was and always shall be more than one reason for giving and being thankful. I am asking you to think about it for a few moments if you will and even if you wont - how does 'thankgiving' day look and sound to you? If you could see what I just wrote you would see my spell checker has underlined the word in 'red' (try it, and see for yourself). Concentrating on the word, I can't help but feel there is something missing.
Life is filled with questions, isn’t it, like why is it that all these spell checkers tell you there needs to be an (S) in Thank(S)giving to spell it correctly? Some questions just make us laugh while others make us scratch our heads. Here are a few that I have come across… (1) Why do we press all the harder on a remote when we know the batteries are going dead? (2) Why aren't we thankful glue doesn’t stick to the bottle? (3) Why do we constantly return to the refrigerator with hearts of thanks and voices of praise that something new to eat will have materialized from when we last visited ten minutes ago? Yes, I fully agree that these are subtly silly nonsensical questions.
As we come to the end of Romans 8, we’re faced with a crescendo of questions. See if you can spot (7) them: “What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died-more than that, who was raised to life-is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
While most of these questions are rhetorical, they are no less real and no less of a reason to give more than one thank(S) to God for each of them. In fact, Paul is using this method to get us to deliberately pause and ponder these amazing truths. He’s also doing something else that is even more subtle, that is not real evident in English. Instead of using connecting words, he’s utilizing a Question and Answer format in a rapid fire manner, moving quickly from one question to the next to build upon each point God is trying very hard to make. You can't say 'thank you' one time and be done with it for the fullness and completeness of God's love for us, for Christ's once and for all sacrificial gift of everlasting salvation.
Let Us Pray: God of all blessings, source of all life, giver of all grace: We thank you for the gift of life: for the breath that sustains life, for the provision of this earth that nurtures life, for the love of family and friends without which there would be no life. We thank you for this day: for this gift of life and one more day to love, for neighbors and one more person to love and by whom be loved, for your grace and one more experience of your presence, for your promise: to be with us, to be our God, and to give salvation through the life, death and resurrection of Your Son Jesus Christ. For all these, and all the heavenly blessings which are Yours alone to bestow, we give you all our thanks, eternal, loving God, through Jesus Christ whom we do most solemnly pray this Thank(s)giving day 2012. Amen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2_IZZNjdas
GIVE THANKS | Words & Music
www.youtube.com
Karaoke music video : GIVE THANKS praise and worship song.
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