As Thanksgiving Approaches – Remember To Be Thankful To Jesus!

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘(8) For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— (9) not by works, so that no one can boast.’ (Ephesians 2:8-9)

We approach the beginning of the 2025 Holiday season, starting with Thanksgiving in just a couple of weeks. It is amazing that 2025 seemed like it just started; however, we look back and remember the winter turning to spring, spring to summer, and summer to now fall, with winter at the doorstep to return. Baseball and NASCAR came and went, and even our national pastime, football, is in the final month for regular-season high school and collegiate games, and midway completed for the pros.

For my home state of Florida, especially the southwestern Gulf coastline, we didn’t get hit by any hurricanes this year, which is more the ‘norm’, though the last decade seemed to erase that. Our weather was ‘normal’, hot and humid, but it wasn’t the scorching-hot of the last couple of years. The temperatures cooled down after October to a more temperate level and the humidity has dropped accordingly.

Our family has been blessed as well, though it is understood that other families may not have been so fortunate. Our children and grandchildren continue to thrive in their jobs and their schooling, and the grandkids are growing, with the youngest just turning one and beginning to walk and is learning to talk.

For me and my wife, we are adjusting in our transition of becoming retired seasoned citizens. Social Security, IRA withdrawals, and a fixed pension replaces the paycheck that came on time every two weeks. Medicare is starting for my spouse, while I’m transitioning for a short time to ‘retiree’ health insurance before my time to get on it.

I am thankful and blessed for all these things, and blessed that any troubles we have faced have been overcome by Faith and the Grace of our Lord. We are troubled by events occurring in our nation, and in our family within our fellowship with their woes and troubles. We pray for those in Nigeria and Jamaica, who are facing either persecution for their Christian Faith – an event we that is foreign to us, or for the disaster of a hurricane hitting them, something we are familiar with.

Out of everything we have to be thankful for, everything we have to be troubled by, and everything we see happening around us; there is one thing that makes ‘everything’ pale in comparison, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  The ‘mystery’ that Paul alludes to is that God, who is Triune (the Father (God in Power of Mind), the Son (God Manifested in Body) and the Holy Spirit (God Indwelling in Spirit)) sent Jesus to Earth to be the Ultimate Sacrifice so we would have Salvation – if we accept Him as Lord over us. 

Whatever we must deal with in our mortal lives, we know it is only temporary and that God is with us, the same God who loves us so much He sacrificed Himself in the manner of Jesus to provide us a means to be forgiven from our sins and live with Him forever in His Holy Dwellings. 

We see the sin around us, we know the inevitable.  History is repeating itself as what happens with all great civilizations like ours – they eventually wither and collapse.  Do we have freedom as intended?  Even here is Florida, we ask permission for many things.  Getting our property tax statements and having to pull permits for such things as replacing the water heater are some of the many examples.

The loss of our freedom, in part, due to each of us either doing something we should not have done or not doing something we should have done.  But although we have made mistakes, Jesus does not.  To our benefit, God’s Grace is extended to us based upon what Jesus has done, not what we have done. 

God’s Grace upon us is based on what Jesus did by accepting His Death upon the cross.  There is nothing we can do to earn it, but only to accept it.  Once accepted, there is nothing we can do to break it. By His gift of the Holy Spirit, the believer is sealed (Ephesians 4:30).  The promise Jesus made to each of us is irrevocable and binding for eternity.  

What do you have to be thankful for, this Thanksgiving?  Be thankful for a Savior who loves us unconditionally, who constantly forgives us, and promises never to leave us and will one day return to take us home, with nothing we need to do other than accept Him as Lord.