Title: Give Thanks to the Lord for Mercy
Therefore, as we observe this Thanksgiving Day, we give thanks to God while thinking about many things. First, we cannot help but thank you for giving us the daily bread that can sustain life on this earth. Here, our daily bread includes not only what we eat, but also all of the food, clothing, and shelter necessary to live on this earth. Second, I can't help but thank you for giving me the grace to enjoy eternal life as well as life on this earth. In fact, this is the body of gratitude. This is the stage of gratitude that anyone who believes up to this point thinks. But there is one higher level of appreciation than this. It is a step where we cannot help but thank God for his mercy on everything he has created. Complete gratitude will be achieved when we move from the stage of giving thanks for our own salvation to the stage of giving thanks for sharing eternal life with all things being saved together.
life of gratitude
First of all, we should give thanks for reaching this point this year by the abundant grace of God in the midst of various difficult circumstances. We should be thankful for a bountiful harvest, health and family peace. It is always unsettling that we live on this earth day by day. It is a blessing to be able to spend the day safely and go to bed because of sudden illness, accidents, and unpredictable changes in life. In a society with extreme social and economic fluctuations, having a place to sleep and having daily bread has changed so that it is not natural but something to be grateful for. I am thankful that I lived a year without getting seriously ill while drinking polluted air and water. We should be thankful that our families have survived without any accidents in the midst of living in a busy city and living with the risk of accidents.
However, when we consider the things we are grateful for, we cannot help but think of those who are not. Among us, there are families who have experienced various difficulties and sorrows. When others say thank you because of being treated for an unwanted disease, unexpectedly losing a loved one, struggling with your children's career path and problems, having trouble finding a job because you don't have a job, or other unwanted things. There are people who have no choice but to shut up and be depressed. Moreover, for the citizens of New Orleans who were devastated by Hurricane Katrina in the United States, resentment will prevail over gratitude. Therefore, this primary gratitude cannot be something that everyone can give together. Because there are people who can be thankful and there are people who can't.
Of course, for those who have faith, illness or hardship can be a condition of gratitude. There is no reason not to be grateful if you can feel the hand that is with you even in the midst of hardship and draws you to God even more through adversity. If you endure pain and go through it with faith, you will be able to give thanks to God with greater faith.
Therefore, the condition of gratitude that we should give should not be limited to the primary condition of life, which is our daily bread. That is why the apostle Paul said to give thanks in everything. It is important to have a grateful heart not only when good things happen, but also in hardships and adversity. We should be able to give thanks not only when there is a bountiful harvest, but also when there is no harvest in famine. Being able to give thanks not only when you are healthy but also when you are sick will be the true gratitude of believers.
Spiritual Gratitude
So, we should step up from this primary level of gratitude and discover gratitude on a spiritual level rather than being thankful for the external conditions of our lives. No matter what condition our lives are in, thanksgiving that comes from the conviction of God's love who never forsakes, saves, protects, and cares for us will be the gift of true gratitude.
“Our Lord has poured out grace upon me abundantly so that I may enjoy the faith and love that come in Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 1:14).
“I am the chief of sinners. But God had mercy on me. It was that Christ Jesus first showed me his endless patience, so that he might set an example for those who would in the future believe in him and gain eternal life” (1 Timothy 1:15b-16).
The love of God who freed us from the bondage of death and sin through the cross of Jesus Christ, the grace of Jesus Christ who broke down the barriers to eternal life from the limited life on earth, and the grace of Jesus Christ that leads us to eternal spiritual life. The communion of the Holy Spirit, who reveals the secrets of the world and opens our minds and hearts to it, is the condition for which we are grateful. Paul refers to this as an overflowing grace.
This is a place of thanksgiving, where anyone can go forward with faith, regardless of whether they are rich or poor, young or old. Of course, even here, there are bound to be people who cannot participate because they do not have faith. But considering the fact that this way of salvation is always open to those people, this saving grace is truly an important factor in which we cannot but give thanks to God.
On Thanksgiving, we pile the grain in front of the altar and give thanks to God, but in reality, the invisible harvest of salvation is the reason we give thanks more than the visible harvest. The abundant fruits and grains of autumn are reminiscent of the grace of salvation that is poured out on us in abundance from heaven. Our eyes see the heaps of grain, but in reality we are thankful for the invisible harvest of salvation. Seeing that a valuable heavenly inheritance awaits us that cannot be compared with the harvest of this earth, we give thanks to God.
Therefore, we should pray, as the Apostle Paul prayed in Ephesians 1, that the eyes of our hearts may be opened to see the riches of heaven promised to us.
“You will know what the hope that God has called you and has given you is, how rich is the glory of the inheritance that God has given to the saints, and how great is the power of God to act as a mighty force in us who believe. May it be.” Ephesians 1:18-19>
If our eyes can be opened to see these things, we will always be able to give thanks to God, no matter what our current conditions.
Thanks to the Lord for his mercy on all he has made
In Psalm 145:9, today's text, it is said, "The Lord welcomes all things with his grace, and has mercy on all the creatures he has made." In verse 14, it says, "The Lord upholds all the creatures that fall, and He raises everyone up.” The psalm sings that God has mercy on all creation, freeing from the narrow-minded belief that only Israel will be saved as a chosen people. This poet sees this great mercy of God as his greatness and praises it.
“The Lord is great, let us praise him greatly. Its greatness cannot be measured.” <Psalm 145:3>
He believed that the unfathomable greatness of God lies in the fact that he has compassion on all creation and saves them. Verse 7 says, “The people will sing of Your righteousness, in remembrance of Your infinite grace.” God's grace is the infinite grace that is sufficient to save all creation. When our faith extends here, we will be able to praise and give thanks greatly, just like the believers in this psalm.
A common metaphor when talking about religious pluralism is that there are many ways to climb a mountain, but eventually they will all meet at the top. But I think the analogy is more appropriate than that, where water flows down from many valleys, but it eventually gathers into one sea. The valleys from which they flowed are different, but in the end the waters gathered into one sea. Here lies the amazing secret of God's salvation. Now we have different religions and different beliefs, so we find our own way of truth, but eventually the whole world will flow to God.
For all things come from you, and by you and return to you.
Even though Buddhism may have a very different form of belief, even if Islam appears to be hostile to Christianity, even if Hinduism does not seem to know Almighty God at all, the Bible is clear that in the end they will all turn to God is. It is this belief that makes Christianity superior to other religions, and it is a factor that shows the wide breadth of it.
It is a self-evident principle that all creation comes from God, and because of him, it eventually returns to God. We don't know how that's possible. However, we do not say no because we do not know, but it is right to believe and praise God for his greatness, believing that his omnipotence and his greatness will accomplish this.
The water that flows into the sea is not the only clean water. Every kind of unclean water flows down from valley to valley, but when they reach the bosom of God, they are all purified and become pure water. If this is not the great power of God, what would it be? After passing through the great septic tank called Christ, all creation will be cleansed and a new heaven and a new earth will be formed. As we look at the completed kingdom of God in this way, we give thanks.
Beloved, even if your current situation is not enough to satisfy your life on this earth, or even if you are in hardship, let's not despair, be discouraged, or be sad. In the end, it is only a brief moment, and when it passes, the truly brilliant world of eternal life unfolds and the people who mourned, those who were ill and weeping, those who were oppressed and those who were deprived of it , those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, and those who have worked for peace will all gather to be crowned before the throne of God and to praise His mercy and wonderful saving power with beautiful songs.
Let us now open our hearts and eyes wide and give thanks, glory and praise to the Lord, seeing clearly the greatness of God's mercy to all creation. With this grateful heart, I hope that you will live your life as you overcome today's adversity and build the kingdom of God.