Dear Trekker,

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. What a great American tradition! We’ve written in the past about the origins of Thanksgiving. Giving “thanks” to God for his provisions joined people of disparate ethnic and cultural backgrounds…settler, Indian, trappers and tradesmen, together, unified in “thanks to God” for his provision, protection and providence.

It is always proper to give thanks. God is the giver of every good and perfect gift! God appreciates our thanks, and giveth, and giveth, and giveth again” (as the song goes) in response. Yet…I have a bit of a concern. Simply put, we thank him at Thanksgiving for all that He gives us, and quite regularly fail to simply thank Him for Himself! Nothing God ever gives us in blessings can compare with the gift of Himself…“For God so loved the world that He gave us His only Son” (John 3:16). Father, Son and Holy Spirit…three persons, yet one nature, one Spirit, one Father, one Son, Jesus the Christ. Isaiah says they shall call Him Emmanuel, “God with us!” (Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23).

Trekker, we need to give thanks to God this Thanksgiving for God Himself! I recall with great joy as I write this morning, the celebratory song which will forever echo through the chambers of my heart and soul, “To God Be the Glory.” It was written by the deceased saint, Fanny Crosby, blind practically from birth, who wrote over 8,000 Christ related hymns, and more than 1,000 secular poems (and who described herself not as a hymnwriter but a mission worker). “To God Be the Glory” almost stands alone (in my opinion). It was often a staple, opening hymn when I had the privilege of attending daily chapel at Wheaton (IL) College many years ago. Imagine 1600 students singing vibrantly in joy and thanksgiving these glorious words: 

To God be the glory, great things He hath done.

So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,

Who yielded His life an atonement for sin,

And opened the Lifegate that all may go in. 

And the chorus, which we would belt out till the walls of Pierce Chapel would reverberate like the Psalmist’s mountains: 

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear his voice.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice.

Oh, come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,

And give Him the glory, great things He has done!

[Forgive me, but I must digress a little. I am known for coining a word, “Lifegiver,” in my writing and speaking. Some years ago, 31 to be exact, when writing a mission statement for a Christian organization I was leading at the time, the word “Lifegiver” was impressed upon my mind by the Spirit while meditating on this great hymn. “If there is a Lifegate, He who opens it, can only be, and must be, the Lifegiver.” Trekker, now you know the rest of the story.]

Yes, yes, let’s thank God for Himself this Thanksgiving. In his sovereign everlasting love, he has led the writing of history (his story) by man. He has penetrated history and placed it in its rightful place for eternity’s sake. Speaking in religious terms, human history is the vestibule of eternity, not the main sanctuary. Or if you prefer another metaphor, history is the seed bed for us to be born twice and grow into eternity with our Creator and Savior, Jesus the Christ. As the womb is the tunnel of birth into history, earthly death is the tunnel of life into eternity.

Oh, the magnificence of God’s loving plan for us. And all we have to do or can do, is to believe it and let our lives tell the story, “a sinner has come home” (John 3:16). “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God… but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 3:23, 6:23).

It may be appropriate to ask the theoretical question, “Well, what if Christ had never been born?” What would be our state today? We certainly would not know what God is like! We could believe in a Creator, but practically, at best, we simply would be deists. The apostle John makes the Son’s divine uniqueness abundantly clear in the opening chapter of his gospel. (Read John 1:1-34). “The Word (Jesus Christ) became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). We approach God only, fully, through Jesus Christ! No wonder Jesus said matter-of-factly, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father (to know Him, to love Him, to be blessed by Him) except through Me” (John 14:6).

When Jesus is denied, or seen only as a mere man, all humankind struggles. Western culture today wrestles to harmonize all religions, and rightfully so. Yet it will never happen. All religions are not equal. Leave out Jesus and all religions founder again and again, without hope beyond the grave. John said it well, ‘He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.” (John 1:10) Yet, Jesus was and is and always will be. Man forms a religion (Christianity) around His presence and what He has done, but He himself founded no religion. Jesus is beyond and above religion. He simply is! “He came to his own (the Hebrews), but His own did not receive Him. Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in his name (Jesus/Savior), he gave the right to become children of God. Children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God” (John 1:11-13). Each of us, quite properly, must be twice-born, naturally by woman and supernaturally by God. Thus, the Jesus term spoken to Nicodemus, “You must be born again” (John 3:3).

All the writers of the New Testament were convinced that “God is on our side.” Our sin dilemma is not cause for God to cast us aside, but an opportunity for God to enter our lives and set us free in history, preparing us for eternity. This is the gospel, good news for which we should be and can be eternally grateful. And it is centered not on gifts per se, but on a person, Jesus Christ.

So, this Thanksgiving keep it simple,  servants! (The KISS principle) Give thanks to God for Himself, alone! That is enough…and always has been. His love and grace and presence in our lives is the story of all time and eternity. To God be the glory, great things He has done!

Thanking God for Himself and the One all trekkers love and follow,

Jim Meredith