Let Us Always Be Thankful

I love leftover turkey. You can make it into sandwiches, hot dishes, eat it cold, or warm it up. You can cut it into little pieces and put in a salad. You can chop it up and add it to a soup. I love leftover turkey.
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I hope you can see that I am thankful for leftovers. The Thanksgiving holiday is a wonderful time to be thankful, but our thankfulness should not be reserved for just once a year. Now that “Thanksgiving” is over for the year, our giving of thanks should still continue.
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The holiday season is a time when we are able to gather with friends and family. I am very thankful for them. The Apostle Paul was thankful for the people in his life too, but I really like how he expresses his thankfulness in Philippians 1:3: “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,”. Notice that he was thankful to God.
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We teach our little boys to say, “thank you,” to the people around them, but ultimately we all need to remember to be thankful to God. Without Him we would not have an earth to live on or a sunset to admire. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) Even the creation itself is to praise God. “Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the LORD: for he commanded, and they were created.” (Psalm 148:4-5)
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God reminds us that not only did He create the heavens and earth, but He created us. “I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.” (Isaiah 45:12) We should thank God for our very existence.
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Remembering that God created the whole world and everything in it, I thank God for turkey leftovers. I also thank Him for the water that I drink and the place where I live. Knowing that I should be thankful to Him, I also want to have the right relationship with Him, but I realize that as a sinner I come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).
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That reminds me of another reason to be thankful. I am thankful for His grace and mercy. “But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.” (James 4:6) God extends His grace upon us through the Lord Jesus Christ as we believe on Him. 1 Corinthians 15:57 says, “But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
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I am therefore thankful that Jesus paid for my sins. “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 2:23). I realize that I have a lifetime of reason to give thanks to God.
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Thanksgiving is not just for November. Thanksgiving is not even just for this lifetime. It is for forever. Because I have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ- trusting Him as my savior-, I look forward to thanking God for eternity. “And I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing." And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, "To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever." (Revelation 5:11-13 NASB)