Read this verse before and after the devotional. It should make more sense reading it a second time. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
- 2 Corinthians 4:15-16
Of all the things to be thankful for around Thanksgiving, I think I've found 3 that I'm especially grateful for!
The first being warm weather. I live in Iowa, meaning if it's a Monday in November, and the forecast for Friday says 50 and sunny, there's a 90% chance that it will be 30 and snowy with winds up to 25 mph.
So I enjoyed my vacation down to South Carolina spending time with family in my shorts and
t-shirt. Every. Single. Day.
The second is family. They not only willingly bought my last-minute plane ticket to come see them, but also had these (what I like to call) "Grandma's-cookin" meals on each and every platter for Thanksgiving day. All I had to do was show up and enjoy my short time I had with them.
And the third thing.
If you don't already do this, you should look into it because working out your turkey thighs before Thanksgiving really helps your self-esteem and opens up some room in your belly for "Grandma's-cookin"!
While I was gracefully working out, heart rate higher than the amount of weight I had on the bar, I had come to this really cool realization that I hadn't really thought of before.
Our faith in God is sort of like a gym membership.
Maybe that's worded a little weird, but allow me to explain myself:
I saw a few scrawny-looking fellas in their little cluster of high-school/scrawny frat-boy groups, very similar to the groups of girls that find comfort and delight in frequent trips to the bathroom together.
These fellas were all trying to watch, what I figured was the Alpha wolf of their pack, bench a dessert-sized plate or two while they all mirrored each other doing what all adolescent and testosterone-filled young men do: bicep curls......while admiring their reflection in the mirror, of course.
All at once, like the Olympic synchronized-swimming team, I kid you not.
And as I watched them, also not an incredibly strong or physically strong individual myself,
I wondered why would they buy a gym membership if they aren't using it to become stronger?
I believe it's the same reason why we as Christians want to look like we're great human beings and nothing is wrong with us, but knowing good and well that we still have work to do.
That group of guys most likely wanted to go lift so they can say they work out, but in reality, they only do it for their outward appearance, not because they desire to become stronger long-term.
If we come into the gym, or better yet our church, and we make up what we say and do along the way, we'll never grow stronger in our faith in God.
Not that church attendance is mandatory, but that acknowledging God's work in your life is, we should continually work out our bodies spiritually so that when others see how we speak and act, they know we're using our membership to be a Christian Believer to the fullest.
God already sent His son to pay for all of our gym memberships, so we need to be thankful and use what we're given!
DAILY!
Right before my dad and I left the gym, we ran what he considered a "cool-down mile" on the treadmills.
As I was starting to pant and drown myself in my cool Artic Freeze baby-blue Gatorade, I looked at the glass-pane window and saw a man looking.........and then staring into the window.
He looked at everything on the inside of the gym. Everything the membership had to offer.
The weary look in his eyes told me that he wouldn't be able to have what my dad and I had.
There are so many people in this world who would give anything to have a membership like we do. To have the freedom to learn and know Jesus and his power, and we as a 1st world culture are ungrateful when we don't have the physical things that others have.
We have to find a way to want to work towards what He has planned for us and not what we have planned for ourselves.
We can't fast forward into the future to see what blessings are waiting for us.
You know what we can do with the membership we have?
We can pray.
We can worship and sing. Christmas is in 1 month, you bet I'll be singing!
We can listen. That includes being more patient than you currently are right now.
And best of all (in my opinion):
We can show off how God has blessed us and worked-out things in our life, not by talking so much and blabbering, but by the way we walk, talk, and hold our ground in a world full of potential Believers who haven't asked you yet why you seem to be enjoying your life so much.
Be thankful for God's blessing and allowing you to have the device you're reading this on.
Be thankful for the vehicle you drove or rode to wherever you last went.
Be thankful for the roof over your head.
Be thankful for the food He prepared for you before and after now.
Be thankful for others that love you even when you feel their love the least.
Know that God will love you even if you choose to put Him aside like your did with your green-bean casserole this past Thursday as you stuffed your mouth with pumpkin cheesecake.
Make God your pumpkin cheesecake with whipped cream and sprinkles, not your green-bean casserole.
With that,
Live, love, and be loved.
- Britt Avery
Comments