To some Thanksgiving is a valued holiday. To others it is contrived and pointless. To others it is offensive as it misinforms the masses about the true history surrounding the Pilgrims "relationship" with the Native Americans. To me, I fall somewhere in between. While I do not ascribe to the false notion that things were all warm and cozy between the Natives and the Pilgrims (my ancestors), I still enjoy the day as a day of thanksgiving and a wonderful time spent with family while enjoying delicious food. Now, every day should be a day of thanksgiving in reality (much in the same way that we should celebrate the truths of each holiday on a daily basis). Lamentations 3:22-23* says:
22 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
We truly should be thanking God every day as he grants us new mercies every day. With that said, I'm not opposed to taking a specific day and giving extra attention to the matter. In fact, as some others already do, I have opted to take the whole month. Over the course of this month, I will be using this blog to focus on various areas of my life I am thankful for. And today, I will start that with my #1 priority in giving thanks: God.
First and foremost, I am thankful that God IS! Moses asked God what name he should give the people of Israel when they asked who sent him. Exodus 3:14 tells us, "God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.' And he said, 'Say this to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" God is the great I AM. HE IS WHO HE IS. Though this certainly gives us a good picture into His eternal nature, I also believe that it also has a bit of an "Enough said!" element to it. What else needs to be said for God...nothing! HE IS...enough said! He is the one who created the universe and all that is within it. He created me. He is the one and only, true God. There is none before Him, none beside Him and certainly none above Him. He stands alone as God. He is the Creator. All other gods (notice the small "g" as they are not genuine) are created, whether by God (some people worship nature or individuals, which were both created by God) or by God's creation (some people have created their own gods to worship or worship gods created by others). But God, the God of the Bible, the only God...HE IS! And we recognize God to be Triune: The Father, the Son (who is Christ Jesus) and the Holy Spirit. In fact, when speaking to the Pharisees in John 8:58, we read, "Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." Some would argue that Jesus was not equating Himself to God there and that it's a mistranslation, but when doing a legitimate study of the Greek word used "ego eimi" (and especially in comparison the the Greek word "genesthai" He used to reference Abraham's coming into being in that same verse) it is clear that Jesus was claiming to be always existing and claiming to be God. The rest of the context really helps us to understand this better as He was giving His authority over that of Abraham's when the Pharisees asked what authority He had. Also we must consider the context directly after this verse when the Pharisees picked up stones to stone Him in John 8:59 which was certainly due to their understanding that Jesus had just claimed to be God. There are many Scriptures that further solidify this truth and also some great writings from the Church Fathers as well (esp. the Cappadocian Fathers). There is one God, made up of three persons. And God is worthy of our praise and thanksgiving just because of who He is!
So, I am thankful for who God is today. Even if He had never done anything for me (which He did and continues to do; and which I will focus on for the remainder of my focus on offering thanksgiving this month) He would still be eternally worthy of my praise.
If you have any questions about anything I wrote or would like clarification or further resources, please email me at mikeandpollybrown@gmail.com.
In Christ,
Mike
* All Scriptures given using the The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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