Thanksgiving time is always special. A time to be purposely grateful for what you have, and to purposefully ignore all that envy and coveting would entice your attentions toward.
In America we have so much to be thankful for.
When a woman from another country lived in the home of some friends of ours for a few weeks, she kept asking questions I had never thought about. When she saw the average American home with an attached garage, she asked, "Does no one live in the room with the car?" It was incredible to her that a room was built just for a car.
At a drive-in restaurant, she said, "Why do you eat in your car?" As she glanced at the living room when everyone was in the den with the TV, she asked, "Why do they call that the living room?"
Through her eyes, we began to see aspects of our culture that were so familiar with we had never noticed them before. It was an "eye-opening" experience to see ourselves through her eyes.
Christ warned the Christians at Laodicea that they were in great spiritual peril because they couldn't see themselves as they really were. They were a prosperous society like we are, and their prosperity had blinded them to their spiritual needs.
He told them, "You say, I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing--and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked." Jesus urged them to come to Him for what they needed, including salve to put on their spiritual eyes so they could see.
Friends, I urge you not to make the mistake of substituting material prosperity for spiritual richness.
At this thanksgiving time, the thing I am most thankful for is the love of God and salvation through Jesus Christ.
"What good does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?" I pray that the God of all Peace will enlighten the eyes of your heart this Thanksgiving to see the most important needs that you have are not material but spiritual. And God has "given us everything we need for life and godliness, through our knowledge of Him who has called us by his own glory and goodness."
God will help you see yourself and your world through His eyes today, if you just let Him. God bless you and have a great day.
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Watson is pastor of the Bella Vista Assembly of God.
Religion on 11/18/2015