Grateful Now

Greetings!

This is Thanksgiving week! This is usually one of my favorite weeks of the year. It is so cool that our country has a holiday just for being thankful! Gratitude is such an important thing that we’ve made a holiday for it! 

 

So, this week is thanksgiving and all I can think about is how different it’s going to be. It’s just not going to be like past thanksgivings for so many people in so many ways. Even if we do get together with some family some won’t be there, certain traditions won’t be possible. It just won’t be like it was last year or the year before. I think this way often about a lot of things – I wish it could be the way it used to be. 

 

And then I read Ecclesiastes 7:10, a short proverb from King Solomon that is so profound and convicting and freeing! It goes like this, “Do not ask, ‘Why were the old days better than these?’ For it is not wise to ask such questions.”

 

Here Solomon is not saying we shouldn’t reminisce, shouldn’t enjoy memories or even miss certain things from the past. What Solomon is saying is not to get caught up in wishing today was like the good old days. He says that when you do that you are not being wise.

 

You are making an idol out of yester year. If the best days are behind you than what does that say about God’s activity today?

You are acting as if God has nothing to do right now. Do the circumstances make a difference to God’s grace and power? 

You are indicating that the Gospel was more potent back then. Is the Gospel any less amazing today than it was then? 

 

With this little proverb King Solomon is setting us free from the lie that our past is better than our present and allows us to enjoy the past but live right now. There are great things about today, about right now. So much to be grateful for! Name them, list them. The provision God has blessed you with, the people He has given you, and most importantly – the Gospel! The Gospel alone allows us to live in that lifegiving way of gratitude no matter our circumstances doesn’t it?

 

When you are tempted to look back and wonder why the old days were better than these days simply thank God that you got to have those memories and then look to the present and see what else He has in store. 

 

I love you church! 

Comments

  1. Thank for this reminder! So thankful for you and your family!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Secret to Happiness

“Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

When we disagree