“Gratitude Opens the Door” Sunday, 09 October 2022 10:00 a.m.
It's Thanksgiving. And what does that mean? To many in our world, it's a chance to eat turkey and watch their favourite football team…. or perhaps to do a family outing like take a walk and enjoy the colour of the leaves. But to us who are of the Christian faith, it is a time of thanksgiving where we thank God for His blessings, His mercy, His protection and His love.
These are concepts in a secular world that are becoming quickly forgotten. As many in our world embrace atheism/agnosticism, they find that this holiday has become redundant. Someone once said of the atheist that Thanksgiving is the loneliest holiday of the year because he has nothing to be thankful for and no one to thank. In a world that is adrift from God and from the word of God; there are 5 prevailing attitudes that have resulted in people becoming un-thankful and ungrateful: materialism, entitlement, atheism, narcissism, and independence.
So how do we keep this ungrateful attitude in check? It starts with an attitude of humility. Humility is an attitude not where we think of ourselves less, but where we think less of ourselves. We're not constantly thinking about our importance, and our needs and our rights and our desires.
Jesus lived a life of humility in perfect submission to the Father. He didn't go around doing miracles to impress or to make Himself look important. He did them as prescribed by the Father. He said that He only did what He saw the Father do. In the story of the feeding of the 5000, Jesus looked to the Father for this miracle in an attitude of thankfulness.
John 6: 11 And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.”
He only had five loaves and two small fish. But as He was distributing them after His prayer of thanks to the Father suddenly there was a divine multiplication. Thankfulness opens the door to receiving a miracle and being able to give to those in need.
And when you're thankful you have no desire to be stingy. A thankful attitude also results in being very generous…. extravagant, excessive, bountiful, lavish. I'm not holding anything back from those in need, I'm giving them as much as they want. The result is that they were all filled.
And the last thing you see is that Jesus is not wasteful. The grateful person acknowledges that every good and perfect gift comes from the Father and does not despise them, waste them, flaunt them or display them for His own glory.
Join us in person on Sunday at 10:00 a.m. or via livestream by going to https://www.firstbaptistsudbury.com and clicking on livestream for “Gratitude Opens the Door.”
Blessings,
Kevin