Giving Thanks

Today is the day we set aside to give thanks.  

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself a ransom for all -- this was attested at the right time. For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. - 1 Timothy 2:1-7

We thank God for today, for everyone in our lives, good and bad, who have helped shape and mold us into who we are today.

Paul has a unique perspective on this, since he was one of the bad ones, a persecutor of the faithful who believed in and followed Jesus. 

He is thankful that God did not abandon him, but instead came to save him through his encounter with Christ.

So, of course, he will be a proponent of offering thanks to God for everyone, even those who wish him harm.  After all, he was one of them.

The message is clear and simple.  God wants to save everyone, period.

Some are on the path to salvation on their own.  They are like the good son who stayed with the father while the other took his inheritance and ran away.

Thank God for these people, who show us we can follow the way of light and truth, even if we get discouraged at times, when we see what others get away with.

Those are the folks for whom it is hard to be thankful.  Yet, they are also God's children, and maybe they need our example to help them.

In the end, it is a choice we make, how we are going to live.  We don't know how it will all turn out, but we have faith and hope.

So, for now, let us give thanks for what we have, and for the hope we cherish for what is to come.

And let's not just set aside one day for thanks, for we never know what tomorrow will bring.

More to come...