Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!

Know that the Lord, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!

For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

(Psalm 105)

The Thanksgiving holiday is very special to me. I love that we have a day to focus on being thankful. It’s neat to read Thanksgiving Facebook posts about things we are all thankful for, and I love the practice of speaking about what we are thankful for during our Thanksgiving celebrations. However, this year, I’m just holding my breath that we will be able to gather with our family and that no one will get sick as a result.

On an individual level, many of you have had worse times in your lives than Thanksgiving 2020. 2017 was a very difficult year for me. My father passed away just five days after Thanksgiving following an extended illness, and honestly, I don’t remember much else. Many of you have dealt with grief or illness or family concerns in past years. But on a group level, I’m hard pressed to think of a more challenging Thanksgiving season than we are experiencing right now. Everyone is impacted by something hard; and people I know and love are telling me they are scared.

The Scriptures tell us we should not make our thankfulness conditioned upon our circumstances. We should have a heart of continual thankfulness, no matter what we are going through, and we should even be thankful publicly when it is appropriate. Here are a couple of do’s and don’ts about how to be more genuinely thankful:

1. Do treat thankfulness as a spiritual discipline and be intentional about practicing it. How can we be intentional? Set goals, schedule it, and measure your progress. That may sound unspiritual, but it is actually very spiritual because it is intentional. That doesn’t rule out spontaneous thankfulness, but it does ensure daily thankfulness and a growing awareness of the need to be thankful. Daniel is a great example to us in this when he was in exile and in a very vulnerable position in the public eye. “Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before” (Daniel 6:10). Daniel obviously was very intentional about his prayer life which including giving thanks.
2. Do be thankful for everything, even the bad stuff. Why? Because the Bible tells us so. “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:15-20).
3. Don’t have a hidden agenda in your thankfulness. Maybe a good way to describe this is through Scripture using as example the Pharisee who prayed “God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.” Jesus could see right through this Pharisee, saying “For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Luke 18:9-14).
4. Don’t use your thankfulness to spread gossip.  We’ve all heard these prayers, which go something like, “Lord, thank you for bringing Joe through this bad time when his wife was running around on him.” Every word that we speak should be to build up and not tear down, whether we speak it privately or in public.  “Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly I will destroy. Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not endure” (Psalm 101:5).

I can’t think of anything that is as likely to change our state of mind, attitude and behavior for the good like thankfulness. Thankfulness points us to the Giver of all good things; it re-orients us to the sovereignty of God and aligns us with our true position in the family of God.

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Col. 3:12-17).

Give Thanks

In Christ,

Judy

“I was blind but now I see!” (John 9:25b)

I have been taking art lessons for the past couple of years. In fact, I started shortly after moving into this Chaplain role. I didn’t think that I had any talent for art but just wanted to participate with some friends of mine as a lark. My teacher says he can teach anyone who can hold a brush, and I guess I have proved him to be right. And one of his first instructions is always to “Paint what you see.”

There are skills that one can learn in order to paint all types of paintings from portraits to landscapes. However, the first and most important skill he has taught me is to see details, the nuances of an image. And it never fails, the longer I study the image, the more I see. A shadow here, a reflection there, a highlight where the sun is coming through. The better I see, the better the final work of art. To truly see is something that can be learned, and like any learned skill, practice helps us to improve.

This gift of seeing is what I have appreciated most about learning to paint, and it has made me realize the importance of seeing as well as using my eyes to listen to people around me. You see, in the past I was more often guilty of thinking about myself when I with others and not really paying attention. “What do I think, what do I want to say, how do I want to come across?” Or worse, I might have been thinking about something else altogether. Too late I would realize that I had missed an opportunity to learn something about the other person during our interaction. If I focus on seeing inside my head while painting, my canvas doesn’t reflect the truth about the object I am observing. It works the same with my conversation. If I focus on my internal thoughts while the other person is talking, my response won’t reflect what the person needs to hear from me.

Blind Bartimaeus could see that Jesus was the son of God even though he was blind (Mark 10:46-52). Meanwhile, the chief priests and teachers of the law had fine eyesight but still didn’t see that Jesus was the Messiah (Mark 10:32-34). How could they have missed something so important?

So, I recommend taking to heart what my art teacher constantly counsels, “Paint what you see.”

In Christ,

Judy

“Jesus didn’t come to take sides; he came to take over” (Dr. Tony Evans).

I write this on Election Day, not having a clue who will win or even when we will know. Most political experts say we won’t know for weeks, maybe months. This is not the first time in our nation’s history that we have been so divided. The United States has survived our founding with its philosophical differences between strong central government (Washington) and states’ rights (Jefferson). The United States has survived the Civil War, the bloodiest conflict America has ever faced. The United States has survived the Great Depression and other traumatic experiences. There have been eight highly contested elections in U.S. history, and we have survived them all. We will survive this election. We will survive this president, whoever it is. And in four years, we will do this again.

My pastor* had a great perspective on this subject in his sermon this past Sunday. As believers, we hold dual citizenship. Yes, we are citizens of the United States of America, but we are first and foremost citizens of heaven. And as citizens of heaven, we have responsibilities that transcend our responsibilities as U.S. citizens.

We are called to be ambassadors of Christ, highest ranking, chosen and appointed, diplomats from heaven to the world:

“From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” (2 Corinthians 5:16-20)

Jesus said in John 15:16: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.” Galatians 5:22-23 tells us what that fruit is: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

We are called to be a royal priesthood, representing Christ to the world, and as such we must keep our conduct honorable at all times: “…you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ….Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. (1 Peter 2:5,12).

 It is true that whether our candidate wins or loses, we are called to submit to our elected leaders. “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves….Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.” (Romans 13:1-2,5).

And as Christian subjects, we are commanded to pray for our leaders. “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:1-4).

So, brothers and sisters in Christ, let’s not worry about who is president. Win or lose, let’s not be critical of those who supported a different candidate. GOD IS IN CONTROL. Let’s continue to do our civic duty, and let’s remember what our Christian responsibilities are:

1. Pray for our leaders. 1 Timothy 2:1-4
2. Submit to our leaders. Romans 13:1-2,5
3. Keep our conduct honorable since we represent Christ to the world. 1 Peter 2:5,12
4. Go and bear fruit. John 15:16, Galatians 5:22-23
5. Be reconciled to God; be reconciled to each other. 2 Corinthians 5:16-20

In Christ,

Judy

*Spencer Barnard, Pastor, Life Center Church

Dr. Tony Evans