Verse of the Day 11/28

 

Romans 1:21  For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they  became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
ESV

It is kind of ironic, or worse, that the day after Thanksgiving, a day of giving thanks, of celebrating and being thankful for all of God's blessings shared with family and loved ones, we go to perhaps that day that most exemplifies greed and the "desire to acquire".  We will see news stories of people pushing and shoving (and worse) trying to get that best deal of the year, doing whatever it takes to satisfy that desire.

 

Thinking about that in light of today's verse, that attitude does not honor God.  It represents a people that have become futile in their thinking, who have had their "thankful hearts" deceived and darkened.  I am not saying that we may not take advantage of sales, but what we should consider is our attitude behind it?

 

In his devotional today, John Piper writes, "At the root of all ingratitude is the love of one's own greatness. For genuine gratitude admits that we are beneficiaries of an unearned bequest. We are cripples leaning on the cross-shaped crutch of Jesus Christ. We are paralytics living minute by minute in the iron lung of God's mercy. We are children asleep in heaven's stroller.  Natural man hates to think of himself in these images: unworthy beneficiary, cripple, paralytic, child. They rob him of all his glory by giving it all to God.  Therefore, while a man loves his own glory, and prizes his self-sufficiency, and hates to think of himself as sin-sick and helpless, he will never feel any genuine gratitude to the true God and so will never magnify God, but only himself."

Our son Jeff is probably one of the happiest people you'd come to know.  Being disabled, yes crippled, he relies on others to provide for his needs.  He is thankful every day and he expresses his gratitude freely.  Others may be out there today trying to accumulate to bring happiness which will be temporary and fleeting.  Jeff's happiness is ongoing, he relies on God and family, expresses it and is satisfied in it.

I believe it was Augustine who wrote, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him".  May we realize that "He's got the whole world in His hands" (The Message) and find satisfaction in what He has provided with thanksgiving.

In Christ,
Mike

 

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Eph 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace  NIV

 

Romans 1:21The Message (MSG)

Ignoring God Leads to a Downward Spiral

^18-23 But God's angry displeasure erupts as acts of human mistrust and wrongdoing and lying accumulate, as people try to put a shroud over truth. But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can't see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse. What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn't treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand.