A Life of Thankfulness

Life without thankfulness is devoid of love and passion. Faith without thankfulness lacks strength and fortitude. Every virtue divorced from thankfulness is maimed and limps along the spiritual road. - John Henry Jowett

Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving I thought it would be fitting to write a blog about Thanksgiving. The quote above is one of my favorites. I want to strive to be a man whose life is lived in thankful gratitude for all that God has done and is doing. It is essential that our salvation and sanctification is a gift from God and not something we are entitled to. When we look at a world that is falling apart and lives that sin destroys we should get on our knees thanking our Lord and Savior for all that he has done.

When we are not living a life in thankfulness towards God and one another our love and passion fade. We become cold, self focused, and prideful. We start to think God and people owe us. Our passion starts to fade while depression and discontentment enters into our lives. I pray that this Thanksgiving you will be reminded to, "Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever." - 1 Chronicles 16:34

The Mark of a Disciple

The human race was created to be relational. In Genesis 2:18 God said, "It is not good that man should be alone." We were made to be in community, to have fellowship with others, to be built up and encouraged by the people of God. In order to do this we must first have fellowship with God. 1 Corinthians 1:9 says, "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." Our call is to an intimate relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. Fellowship with Jesus marks the heart of a disciple's life, and this fellowship includes trusting him, confessing him, taking note of his conduct, following his teaching, and being shaped by a relationship to him. Is that what is marking your life?

Lets define two terms, fellowship & relationship. First we must understand that once we are in Christ our relationship as Sons and Daughters of God never changes even despite our sin. Just like you can't not be your parents son or daughter. However, our fellowship can drastic change because of sin. When we sin our natural tendency is to run. The last thing we naturally want to do is confess our sin. It makes us feel like a failure and worthless. The problem is in not confessing our sin and accepting forgiveness the feelings of worthlessness continue to build and our fellowship with God diminishes. The mark of a disciple is one who maintains intimate fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to be a people who purge sin from our lives, who are quick to confess sin and accept forgiveness so that we are filled with love for our Creator. The weight of carrying sin is too much for us, that is why Christ Jesus died on the cross, he paid the penalty and God validated his sacrifice at the Resurrection. I want to leave you with a few verses from 1 John that I pray God will use to speak to you today.

"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." - 1 John 1:7-9