Tomorrow is Thanksgiving!
This is a special time of year when almost everyone takes the time to think about what we have to be thankful for, to count our blessings and express contentment; and then to follow it up with extreme shopping in chaotic stores.
We all have many reasons to be thankful, but I would say that Church Planters have some of the best reasons. We get to see daily transformation in the lives of people, and we get to be on the front lines of God’s work in the world. These are wonderful experiences that we get to have, and I would not trade them for anything (even though I want to throw in the towel almost weekly).
To be used by God is a wonderful and humbling experience. However, let’s never forget what Jesus told His disciples when they rejoiced in their results, rather than their relationship to God:
“Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
Luke 10:20
God never intended us to find our rejoicing primarily in what He accomplishes through us. Instead, God desires our thankfulness and joy to be based first and foremost on our relationship with Him. He desires that our joy and fulness of life would come from a renewed relationship with Him, and from knowing that we’ll get to enjoy this relationship in heaven PERMANENTLY.
As we slow down to speak the things we are thankful for, let’s remind ourselves of the greatest gift ever given to us: a restored relationship with God. And as the year is coming to a close and we’re preparing end of year statements for how God has worked in our midst through finances, salvations, baptisms, attendance, etc, let us always remember the greatest of all of these things is that God has restored OUR relationship to Him.
Happy Thanksgiving!