“And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.” (Colossians 3:15)

I would like to share with everyone an email I received the other day that gave me such a blessing. With his permission, please read what he wrote below in its entirety.

“Just read your very good work and words you wrote and posted on Rapture Ready “A Day Almost Forgotten.”  We have forgotten about giving thanks to our God for every thing we have. I am 85 years of age and my wife is…, shall I just say close behind.  Today is Thanksgiving Day. We will spend this day with just the two of us. Our children will have their time with the other side of the family. We will all be together on Saturday. My wife and I have spent the first part of this day reading the book of Psalm and giving thanks unto Our Lord and God for all the blessings He has poured out on us.  My wife, on Feb 15 of 2012 will celebrate her 32nd year of being free of breast cancer and from all she had to go through 32 years ago.  We praise God for that.  She has had cancer again, but all was gotten and no more signs.  She has had open heart surgery and has had, over the years, about eight other surgeries.  But, she is still going and waiting on me as if I was helpless.  I spend most of my time in a wheel chair and along with her have all sorts of heart problems, but through the grace of God still hanging in. I write this because we give thanks to God for every thing we have because we know it all comes from Him.  We get stares when we go out to eat someplace and bow our heads and hold hands and give God thanks for our food, but this is just what we believe we should do. Thanksgiving Day is the almost forgotten day.  But giving thanks to God just for every thing we have on a daily basis has been forgotten too. God is good, God is great, give Him the praise.”

If this doesn’t touch your heart, then all we can do is pray for you. Did you notice what they did on Thanksgiving Day? Did you notice what they do when they go out to eat? Did you notice his last remarks? “God is good, God is great, give Him the praise.” Even with all their problems, they both give God the praise.

Thanksgiving Day is behind us now, but as he said, “But giving thanks to God just for every thing we have on a daily basis has been forgotten too.”

There is so much we have to be thankful for, and it all comes from God. Being thankful is not a “one day” thing, but far too many of us don’t even take that one day to be thankful.

One fellow responded to me by stating that he thought the article was a guilt trip on my part and that I was making assumptions and judging. I never ceased to be amazed at these strange responses that arrive in my email box occasionally. Thankfully, there aren’t that many.

Anyone with eyes and ears can look around them and see that we have “generally” become a nation of unthankful people, even so called Christians. I witness people daily, whether in my job or my private life, who demonstrate very little thankfulness. To the contrary, I see a great deal of selfishness.

Another thing that really jumps out at me is just how few Christians there are who will ask God’s blessing upon their food in a restaurant. I know one man who is a well known pastor in our community who I have never witnessed asking God’s blessing on his food, and I have seen him on many occasions.

It isn’t just about saying the blessing or grace (whichever you prefer to call it) though. When people are afforded an opportunity to thank the Lord foranything, how many do so? Thankfully, several will, but unfortunately, most will not. Some will even take the credit for what God has done.

It is true that those who are not Christians will often have the attitude of non-thankfulness, but not always. Even non-Christians can be thankful. They just don’t realize the source. Many Christians, knowing the source, are thankful, but many are not. So what is the general consensus? I hold to my belief, by observing our society that few are thankful for the many blessings that come their way.

I am reminded of what the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy concerning the last days, “For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful (emphasis mine), unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” (2 Timothy 3:2-5) He said that these will be the traits and actions of mankind in the last days. The last days are here.

As a whole, this world throughout this earth, is not only unthankful, but outright demanding for anything that will fulfill their own greed. Yes, there are thankful people, but the percentage is definitely very low. Some will thank God for His blessings even during troubling times, as Job did, but most will curse God and say, “Why me?” It is also true that usually when everything is going well in our lives, and no problems to be had, most very easily forget God. Let us be thankful for all that He has done for us. “Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.” (1 Chronicles 29:13)

Grant Phillips

“19What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?20For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

How many times have you heard someone say something like, “It’s my body, I’ll do as I please,” or “It’s my life and my business,” or “What I do isn’t hurting anyone else, and it’s no one’s business anyway?” If the individual is not a Christian, does the above verse apply to them? I think it does to some extent. Obviously they cannot glorify God in their body and spirit, but we are all His creation and are expected to obey His laws. Notice I said that we are all Hiscreation. We are not all His children however. That being said, let’s talk about His children, Christians.

I have heard Christians make the same statements as above. At least they claim to be Christians, so we’ll leave that between them and God and assume they are.

There is much we could criticize today about the actions of Christians, but let’s face it we would all have to stand in the circle of discipline, so to speak. None of us are perfect. However, just because we are not perfect, does not mean we just ignore these verses and live by our own set of rules, if we have any rules at all.

We Christians are a big part of the blame for most of the problems we are having in society today. Come on now. I’m willing to take the heat, so don’t be a snob. I’ve taken a switch to this same mischievous brat of a child before, but I just feel like rehashing some of it.

Immorality:

The first thing that comes to mind is the lack of morality in today’s society, and that’s putting it mildly. Immorality has always been a problem, but never has it been so open and widespread among a people who are supposed to be “civilized”.

I had a friend who used to say, “We just ain’t cultured.”

Society keeps preaching that education is the key to better living. Yeah, right. Let’s teach children the mechanics of sex in the classroom and provide them with condoms for lab work. Tell that to the parents who are now raising grand-children.

Manners:

Manners among couples, is something else I’ve noticed. How many men walk on the outside while walking with a lady, or open the door for her? I guess one could ask, “Is she a lady?” but that isn’t the point. A man should still show respect toward the opposite sex. I guess manners run short from both sexes. Too many men don’t have them, and too many women don’t want them. I’m a Southerner and am prone to say “Yes Ma’am.” That doesn’t set well with some females, but that’s their problem.

To me, to have “manners” is to demonstrate respect toward others. How much of that have you seen lately?

Law:

I remember a generation that was raised from early childhood to respect the law of the land. Now of course, not everyone did, but today that gap has widened considerably. I wonder if it could have something to do with rejection of the Ten Commandments. Sure wouldn’t surprise me. How about you?

Worship:

It seems to me people used to be really interested in wanting to know what God was saying to them. They wanted to know His Word, and would even work at memorizing passages in the Bible. They wanted to know what God wanted them to do in service to Him. Today, most just want to be entertained.

Children:

We were taught manners when I was growing up. “Respect your elders” for example. Children today, not all of course, even in Christian homes are as rude as they come. They, with the encouragement of their parents, want to be the center of attention.

Today, parents teach their children “entitlement” far more often than they teach them “responsibility.” The Beavis and Butthead mentality has certainly found a home.

Education:

There was a time when education was geared toward teaching students the three “R’s,” reading, writing and arithmetic. From the job applications I’ve seen over the years, I can assure you that it is no longer the case.

Well, I could drag this out, but let’s call it a day and move on. What does any of this have to do with “You are not your own?” It has everything to do with it. If all of us who are called Christians would live by that statement, would the world be in the mess it is in today? That includes me by the way, oh yes. I firmly believe that the answer would have to be “No.” Christians can and do have an influence on the world around them.

“Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:13-16)

So the obvious stands before our very eyes. We the Church, as a whole, have fallen on our face in utter failure. Instead of influencing the world around us for good, we have allowed the world to influence us for bad. No wonder apostasy abounds in the 21stcentury.

I could sit here and type in a whole wheelbarrow load of individual failures of God’s people, but if we belong to Him, we know in our heart where we have failed Him and those around us. I do. So what do we do now?

I normally would not do this, but I will recommend a movie called “Courageous” starring Alex Kendrick, who is also Director and Co-Writer of the movie, that every family should see. Maybe this would be the drive to get Christians to make a change in their lives.

We all, as Christians, as our Lord’s Church, need to become very familiar with a book written by Almighty God called the Bible. It is a book that the Lord has provided for us to guide us in this life. This is how He talks to us. We speak to Him by prayer, and we listen in our soul to what He says to us by His Word, the Bible. His Spirit will guide us, but we must be willing. His Word and prayer should be a daily continuous part of our everyday lives, simply because we are not our own.

“Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men. Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.” (1 Corinthians 7:23-24)

Grant Phillips