This week Team Swap would like to turn their focus on a current issue in society - Thanksgiving. This week we want to talk about consistent thanksgiving.
Looking at Luke 9, Luke 22, and Luke 24 you see Christ in three different settings. The first, Luke 9, finds Christ feeding 5000 men, plus their families, with 5 loaves and a few fishes. He does this right after commissioning his disciples to cast out demons and carry his message to the world. Right after this miracle you have Peter publicly pronounce that Jesus “the Christ”. There are no Sadducees or Pharisees around attacking Him, and the people following Him are paying attention to His teachings. Obviously Jesus is at a high point in His earthly life and in the midst of all this. With all of this going on, with His life going well, He still thanks God before feeding the people.
In Luke 22, you have Judas negotiating the deal to sell Christ out at the beginning of the chapter. Then we see the last supper, with the outline for the Lord’s supper set, and immediately after that James and John begin arguing about who is greater and Judas heads out into the night to begin his betrayal. Here Christ is obviously at a low point in His earthly walk.
Two of his best disciples are arguing over petty things. One of his twelve closest friends is selling Him out, and He knows that the next twenty four hours of His life will be filled with unimaginable torment, pain and anguish. Yet, with all of this going on, He still thanks God for the food, His provision and His care.
In Luke 24, Christ has already been resurrected and He is walking with two of His disciples. He walks with them and talks with them (you thought we were going to sing a hymn didn’t you, admit it...** LOL ** ) and teaches them. Then they ask Him to eat with them and rest. He agrees, blesses the food, they then see Him for who is His and He disappears. They then go and confirm to the disciples that He has risen, etc. Here Jesus has just overcome death, Hell, and the grave and He has yet to go to Heaven, yet He still takes the time to bless the food and thank the Father for it and for all that God has done and is doing.
The lesson here is that Christ did not let His circumstances and surroundings, or the circumstances and surroundings of those around Him, dictate His thankfulness. He was thankful to God for everything, all the time, regardless of what was going on. He was not ruled by emotion, circumstance or condition.
To us that is the Thanksgiving lesson that Christ teaches us all - be thankful all the time, for everything, regardless of your state. God is wants to hear from you, and you need to talk to Him anyway. There is nothing that is happening in or around your life that Christ as not dealt with and conquered and nothing that God and the Holy Spirit can not help you through. There is always hope, there is always forgiveness, because there is always Christ. He is not worried about your state, He just wanted to be sure you are right with God. Christ, and His sacrifice for you on the cross, is the thing to be the most thankful for. God loves you and He wants to do great thing with and through you. For that to happen you have to be in the right place, which is forgiven and thankful for it, as well as thankful for all the things God has blessed you with.
Be sure to be thankful this year for every blessing you have in your life and be sure to be thankful for them all the time, not just on special holidays.
