Thanksgiving - Living a Christian Life

November 25, 2024

Denise, from Ridegefield, PA remembers the year she chose the “Kosher Turkey” recipe from Rick Rodger’s cookbook, Thanksgiving 101. She purchased a kosher turkey from the butcher and didn’t think about it until an hour before cooking time. She unwrapped the bird to find it completely covered in feathers, which is part of the kosher turkey experience. The butcher told her to pick up a pair of pliers and start plucking. When the guests arrived, everyone was still plucking. Dinner was late, but it turned out to be the tastiest turkey of all time.

One of my favorite times of year is Thanksgiving. Being thankful for all things is truly a mark of a mature person, and the wonderful words of Colossians 3:12-13 challenge us to be thankful as a Christian way of life. In Colossians 3:12 we read, “As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.” Now there is a lofty goal. When we try to be these things we are not always very good at it. Leo Buscaglia tells of a college student speaking to her advisor, and for an hour all she could talk about was herself. At one point she says, “I am not sure what I want from life.”

The advisor shouts back, "What are you giving to Life? Every day you take from the ground, you take from the air, you take from the beauty. How are you giving back?” How often do we think about what we are giving back? (From Living, Loving, and Learning by Leo Buscaglia, pp. 82).

Perhaps we get a little gun-shy because, when we do model these five and other traits of Jesus Christ, it backfires. Author Phillips Brooks remembers when he was walking along a street in Boston. He saw a little fellow trying in vain to reach a doorbell. What would you do? He thought it would be kind to help, so he walked up the steps, saying, “Let me help you, my little man.” He pulled the knob that would ring the bell in the home, whereupon, the boy scampered down the steps, shouting, “Now run like the devil!”

We need a power greater than ourselves, the power of God, to live the kind of life that shows compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. This becomes clearer when we look at verse 13. Paul raises the stakes when he writes, “Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” We can convince ourselves that we are kind like Paul expects, but, forgiving as the Lord forgives is another matter. Remember his words from the cross, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).

Dr. James Upp tells us just how impossible this kind of forgiveness is without the power of God strengthening us. In Guidepost Magazine, March 1992, he tells of two 17-year-old boys who were throwing concrete blocks off an over-pass “just for fun.” One of the blocks went through his daughter’s windshield causing her to lose control of the car and crash into the bridge abutment killing her. After the boys turned themselves in, they pled not guilty to bargain for a lesser sentence. Dr. Upp’s wife had died a few years before, and he and his only other daughter were full of anger and hatred. He remembered this verse from Colossians, and looked for a way to let God show him how to forgive. He realized he needed to talk to his daughter’s killers.

A meeting was arranged and, at the meeting, Dr. Upp told the boys about how his daughter’s faith led her to show love and care for others. The boys talked of their shame, their stupidity and their fear and they apologized. God’s spirit was with the two families as they found the power of confession and forgiveness. At the trial, Dr. Upp testified on their behalf, and they got a two-year sentence with seven-year probation.

He concluded, “With God’s love, I was able to let go of the anger I carried against those boys and replace it with forgiveness. Vengeance wouldn’t bring Diane back, but by showing God’s infinite compassion, just as she had done, we would keep her spirit alive. In that I find peace.” Even in those most painful experiences in life, God’s presence has the power to bring hope, renewal and thanksgiving.

Think about each of these traits that reveal Christian maturity: Compassion, Kindness, Humility, Meekness, Patience, and Forgiveness. Pick two of them and choose an activity you can do to model them as a Thanksgiving gift to your family. Give Thanks to the Lord, for He is good!