Christians should be some of the most grateful, thankful people there are in this world. Are you grateful to the Lord and thankful for what He has done for you? Are you grateful and thankful for all the things you have? Being grateful and thankful are choices we make each day. Just thinking about how the Lord has blessed me and what I have and what the Lord has done is unreal, praise the Lord.
I want to talk a little about Christmas, one of my favorite times of the year, and how ungrateful many are at this time of year. When I think of what I got for Christmas when I was a young boy compared to what many kids get today there is no comparison. There were times I received an apple or an orange and was blessed to get that. Today kids aren’t happy unless they get some kind of computerized equipment or the most popular toy, depending on the child’s age.
I remember last year around Christmastime I wanted to give away some used bikes that I had, and for the most part were in very good condition. I called some places I thought I could donate them to so they could pass them on to some families with kids that were struggling to make ends meet. To my surprise, or probably shock, they couldn’t take them because they weren’t brand new bikes. When I was a kid to get a bike like I was giving away would have been like kids today getting a computer or an IPod or a cell phone, I would have been so excited and so happy. Many kids today get everything they want or they have a fit at times. Instead of being grateful they are very ungrateful. Their moms and dads go so far in debt on Christmas trying to make everyone happy that it may take over a year to pay for the things they bought. The sad thing is in a month or two many kids will not be happy with what they got, no, they will want the updated version.
We have bought into the world’s theology. We have such a hard time being grateful or thankful and it is not just the kids it is adults as well. We should give thanks to the Lord in all things. There are many in this area, and around the world, that had many things but because of some of our government officials now our economy is terrible and they have lost much of what they had. I am sure living like they have to now, has become a real struggle. If we can’t be grateful today what will we do as time goes on and things become worse and worse. All of us have bought into this to a certain degree.
This is a time of year when our minds should be on the reason we celebrate Christmas as Christians, the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our focus should be on the Lord and His birth and how grateful we are that it happened. In our house we have a cake and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus, then I read the story about the birth of Jesus before we open our gifts with the family. The sad part is He is not physically here to enjoy His cake.
Being grateful is an attitude we should have, but many have a problem with this. We are a people that take so many things for granted, feeling that we deserve everything we get unless it is something we think is bad for us. It is a choice to be grateful for what we have and like I said, every day we need to make that choice. If we were to put everything in the right perspective we have been blessed with so much that we have a reason to shout and praise the Lord.
In 1st Thessalonians 5:16-18 it says, “Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” So what kind of people should we be? Grateful and thankful people, but the choice is ours. If you’re not, I am sorry, I hope the Lord will visit you in a very special way this Christmas and restore the Joy of the Lord within you. God bless you and have a great day!!
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