Today's Devotional

 

November 22, 2007

                                                                                  

Subject:   It's Not About The Turkey   

Isaiah 29:13 - "Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:" 

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Down the street from where we live, a man has a marquee upon which he normally places a different scripture each week.  On the other side he solicits prayer requests and says that if you'd like to pray with us, "meet in the barn on Friday at 9:00 a.m."  I thought that was pretty indicative of simplistic, country living.  Anyway, the sign he had posted this week was a message to Fox News and it read:  "Fox News: It's Thanksgiving, Not Turkey Day."

That message illustrates what tends to happen to people when they get all wrapped up in the trappings and excess that we've come to create around  holidays.  Thanksgiving has become that way.  For stores it's a great time to sell and for many others it has become just another social event.  The fellowship isn't all bad, but we need to remember that as we set aside a day to give thanks, we're not just saying "thank you," we're addressing someone to whom we should be thankful.  Who is that?

The scripture says it all.  We say thank you and we even pray it, but for some our hearts are far from Him and we're thinking about the Christmas sales and all that we've got to do this holiday season.  Those are man's ideas creeping into our celebration of thanksgiving to an Almighty God.    

Today pray that all around the world where thanks are being celebrated, that the object of the thanks be Jesus Christ our Lord.  For God has done great things for all of us and we should thank Him above all.  As the posted sign says, it's not about the turkey.  It's about giving thanks to Him.

  

Carlen