the mysteries of thanksgiving

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have the redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself." - Ephesians 1:3-9

As I reflect on my first Thanksgiving Day in America, I've been considering about what the real essence of thanksgiving day is. Was it just to commemorate those pilgrims from a far sailing with Mayflower and docked in American soil? I've found out that actually we're dealing with a bunch of mysteries when we give thanks to the Lord. Paul said "giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father" (Ephesians 5:20). How about if today we really-really do not have even a single reason to thank Him? Well, even we do have, our reason won't be enough. In fact, there's a lot of things beyond our "reason", things that we might not understand. This is mystery. Consider some of these:

The mystery in His grace
This is probably the most difficult mystery that we could not comprehend thoroughly. How He chose us even before the world was created. How He redeemed us, poor sinners. How He came from riches to rags. The cross is a mystery. Frederick Buechnerr said that this is "the miracle of no miracle." How Jesus made the greatest miracle of all by performing no miracles at all. He did not save Himself from that agony. Thank God for this great mystery.

The mystery in His blessings
God has the unlimited resources of blessings. This is mystery. The Bible says that they are new every morning. (Lament. 3:20). What kind of blessing that is more precious and bountiful than the "spiritual blessing" in the heavenly places in Christ that cannot be rot and stolen. We are His and His blessings are ours. This is a mystery.

The mystery in His wisdom and prudence
God is always one step ahead in our lives. He leads and guides us. No matter how smart and wise we are, we will never can grasp the complete understanding of God and His ways. We can buy information, knowledge, skills, but we can never purchase His wisdom and prudence. It is only can be asked (James 1:5). The highest wisdom and prudence is available for us at no cost. This is mystery.

The mystery in His will
The two greatest will of God is to adopt us as His sons and daughters by Jesus Christ - and to mold us to be holy and blameless before Him. As His children, we have all the rights and inheritance from God. We can call Him, Abba Father. That's wow! (and mystery too). How could it be that our Father, the Holy God, wants us to be holy although we'll not be completely holy while we're still living in this fallen world. We'll never be God because we're not, yet He wants us to be like Him. This is mystery also.

The mystery in His purpose
The purpose of our lives is His glory. Thank God that there is a purpose in our lives, otherwise it will be vain. In Psalm 148, we can read how God created all kinds of nature, all were created to declare His splendor, His glory. When we see the mountains, the oceans, the trees, the skies, the animals, all of these things were created to glorify Him. The good news is, that we're more precious than all those creation. We're created in His very image and we're created for eternity. If we take a look at the nature and think about God's glory, how mystery it is that we can declare God's glory more than the nature does. All the natures will dissappear one day, but our soul won't. This is a mystery.

Although we may not understand yet, all these mysteries will be answered when we meet with God face to face someday in heaven. Now when we'll get to heaven? This is a mystery. OK, stop thinking about mysteries and start to thank the Lord right now!
Let us give thanks to the Lord in all what we are, what we do, and what we've been through.


"The worst moment of an atheist comes when he is really thankful and has no one to thank."
anonymous

My Tribute

(words & music by Andrae Crouch)

How can I say thanks
For the things You have done for me,
Things so undeserved,
Yet You gave to prove Your love for me.
The voices of a million angels
Could not express my gratitude.
All that I am and ever hope to be,
I owe it all to Thee.

To God be the glory,
To God be the glory,
To God be the glory,
For the things He has done.
With His blood He has saved me,
With His power He has raised me,
To God be the glory,
For the things He has done.


Just let me live my life,
Let it be pleasing, Lord, to Thee,
And if I gain any praise,
Let it go to Calvary.
With His blood He has saved me,
With His power He has raised me,
To God be the glory,
For the things He has done.