In Everything, Give Thanks
By Paul Hutchens
When clouds of sorrow sweep across my sky of brilliant hue,
When gray and somber, warlike, fierce, they hide away the blue,
I am not bidden to despair or mope with clouded brow;
God’s Word comes shining–’tis His Sun, my courage to endow–
“In every thing give thanks!”
When faced with dire calamity, when driven to despair,
When tempted to cry out, “My God! Thy dealings are unfair!”
He shows me One whose awful grief made Heaven hide its face;
And then His Word comes shining through to give sustaining grace–
“In every thing give thanks!”
When bounties rich and plentiful are lavished from His hand,
When all our needs are met by Him on whom our lives depend,
‘Tis then of all times we are tempted to forget His love,
Forget to offer praise to Him, to lift our eyes above
And “in every thing give thanks!”
God grant that I may learn to walk so humbly with my Lord,
So keep in fellowship with Him, abiding in His Word,
That not one day, but every day, may be Thanksgiving Day,
That life and lips and all I am–may all of me, always,
“In everything give thanks!”
Thanksgiving In America
How different it must be today than it was when the Pilgrims first gave thanks to God for their survival! Would they see any similarity to the spirit of present day observance with the way it was back then?
Modern day thanksgiving is hardly about survival, but more about feasting, family, and football. It is not about people clinging to and nurturing one another, for the most part, but often about people temporarily laying aside their petty differences and ‘sacrificing’ their own plans to get together and get along for a few hours at best. I’m sure each of you could relate experiences that you know of that tell the story of how different our thanksgiving holiday is now, from the way it was in the beginning.
From God’s point of view, Thanksgiving Day, no doubt, is quite different now than it was with the Pilgrims. Then, God heard utterances from the depths of human hearts, who had lost many friends and family members due to the rigors of their pilgrim life, but who were profoundly grateful for God’s providence and care in having spared them. They felt they owed God everything. Today, while there are some who lift up praises to God, there may be many or more who regard not God.
God has a message for those lifting up their hearts and voices to Him today: “Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High: And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” Psalm 50:14-15 As we see so much changing around us, so much indifference to God, God’s challenge to us is to remain unchanged and to rather draw closer unto Him. “PAY THY VOWS UNTO HIM.” Every Christian can remember the awakenings and impressions of God’s Word, compelling them to take up their cross and follow Him, by faith in God’s will and way. But have any let these things slip unto going one’s own will and way? To abandon God’s call, will result in God not answering our call. DO NOT ERR!
God is still Sovereign over all the universe! He is still the God of His Word, the God of righteousness and the God of judgment. Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess to Him! God also has a message for those who acknowledge Him not: “But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee. These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.” Psalm 50:16,17,21
Are you prepared to meet God? It is not a question of “if,” but just a question of “when.” “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found.”
SHARINGCarnal Christians
“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.” 2 Corinthians 6:17
When a church becomes more concerned about pleasing man rather than pleasing God, it undergoes a psychological revolution. People’s thinking flip-flops on every issue of doctrinal truth. Looming over a pastor’s mind is the cloud that if I start calling sin, sin, then a large number of the congregation will have little problem finding a church down the road that will accept them just as they are. People reason that since few will “endure” sound doctrine, that it becomes more trouble than it is worth. Many agree that rather than a stand on what is right with God, that it is best to figure out what will fly with the approval of man. Thus, the mindset becomes “the church with the most doctrinal restrictions will lose their spiritual shirt.”
Where carnality has the upper hand, people worry more about people’s feelings than they respect Godly standards. As a result, standing on sound doctrine is resented and modification of positions is deemed most apporpriate.
Bowing to the pressure of carnal mindedness, religious leaders have abandoned the scriptural rule that requires “all scripture” to be applied to determine sound doctrine (2 Timothy 3:16-17). In its place, they are incorrectly applying the term “we’re not under the law” to allow for people to do what is right in their own eyes in following carnal fads and fashions.
“…I had not known sin, but by the law…Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” (Romans 7:7,12) All over our society, situation ethics is now the adopted philosophy. We hear politicians cry, “the will of the people should prevail.” So, rather than respect and follow the rule of law, the trend is now “do what you want”, and then overturn the law, following the mandate that the will of the people should prevail. This practice is now the new political science. But it has been the adopted spiritual science of many churches for some time, who have forsaken the rule of “all scripture”, unto adopting the “no scripture” position, under the guise “we’re not under the law”.
Under the “no scripture” policy, churches have abandoned true doctrine on the Lord’s Supper, scriptural baptism, scriptural qualifications for leaders, scriptural authority in worship, scriptural morals, scriptural identity, repentance, separation, etc., etc.
True, God looks upon the heart. But just as true is the fact that what one does is the manifestation of what is in their heart. Rather than Christianize carnality, let’s glorify God!
SHARING
