Today is Thanksgiving, 2010. Families are gathering. The feast awaits. Most of us will celebrate traditions throughout this day. Relationships will be renewed, and memories will be relived.
But on this Thanksgiving Day, I’m bothered. I probably should have been concerned in years past, but the discomfort is especially strong this year. I could surmise as to why I’m bothered, but the bottom line is this: I take for granted so much of what I should be thankful for.
Today I give thanks for Randy, my seventh-grade classmate who shared the gospel with me in the early 1970s. I had never heard the gospel to that point, though I grew up in the shadow of more than 150 evangelical churches within driving distance of my home. Randy loved me enough to be persistent but patient, compassionate yet clear, gospel-centered and grace-filled as he told me the story of Christ.
What bothers me now is that I don’t always have that same kind of passion for non-believers. I did then – when I first met Christ – but life seems to turn me in other directions too often. Even the good “stuff” of ministry has sometimes distracted me from evangelism. At times I catch myself driving to ministry meetings, not thinking enough about the neighbors I pass—not to mention the 1.6 billion in the world who have no access to the gospel. That reality bothers me today.
I’m also thankful for the Word of God today. I love reading the Bible, knowing that it really is good for teaching, reproof, correction, and training (2 Tim. 3:16). When the Word engages our minds and hearts, the reality of the Creator’s speaking to us through His inspired message is quite amazing. I am grateful for the Bible lying in front of me even as I write this blog.
I get uneasy, though, as I think about the other Bibles lying around my house. They are numerous: study Bibles, award Bibles, family Bibles; NASB, KJV, ESV, Greek, Hebrew; a Minister’s Bible, an Apologetics Bible, an Illustrated Bible. In fact, a quick tour counts twelve Bibles in my home—but only two human beings. Meanwhile, 340 million people in the world have no Bible in their language and no current projects to begin a translation. It bothers me that I don’t often think about their needs.
Today, along with millions in North America, I will express gratitude for the meal on my table. It won’t be just a meal, though. It will be more than we typically eat, with extra for meals yet to come. Only on this day will we have turkey and ham, sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie and chocolate pie. While I am indeed grateful for these provisions, something doesn’t seem right here.
I am bothered because I know the ministries of my students among the hurting in my city. By some estimates, 9-10,000 children in the local school system are homeless. Just over 20 percent of the city’s families live below the poverty line. As many as 175,000 people in our region struggle to get sufficient food each day. I’m bothered that we will have more leftovers from one meal today than many people get to eat in a day or a week (or beyond).
I am most grateful today for my Savior, and then for my wife, Pam. Both were unexpected and certainly undeserved gifts. God’s grace to me is beyond imagination, and Pam’s love is without condition. I am unworthy of either gift—but it bothers me that I too seldom say thank you to either one. I continue to learn that unexpressed gratitude is no gratitude at all.
With all of these thoughts in mind, why has this year’s Thanksgiving been such a pensive one? To be honest, I am not certain. I suspect, though, that it has something to do with the fact that I will be 50 years old in two months. I never thought I’d be philosophical about an age, but there really is something to thinking about milestones. I’m at the point of life to wonder what the final decades of my ministry will bring. The details don’t concern me, but the results do. I want to know that whatever I do makes an authentic difference in the lives of others.
That begins with genuine gratitude that takes nothing for granted—and that gives out of an abundance of wealth, energy, and resources to reach others for Christ. That gratitude must result in action.
May God help me.
