Thursday, November 22, 2012

November 23, 2012

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Matthew 25:31-40
 
Over these past several days you have been taking stock of all you are thankful for. And the list is considerable in size!
 
It is good to count blessings and healthy to give thanks.
 
As you were giving thanks, did you ever wonder what makes God thankful?
 
If giving Him thanks is very important, wouldn't it also be important to make Him thankful?
 
How does that happen?
 
According to what Jesus says in this teaching, the way you make God thankful is by ministering to people in need.
 
In other words, you make Him thankful when you give others a reason to be thankful.
 
Though He is attentive to the needs of His children and it troubles Him to see them suffering, He depends on His people to be His hands and feet so hungry people can be fed and ill people can be restored to health and naked people can be clothed. When their needs are met and they are thankful God is thankful to those who met the needs.

Recently our church people got to experience first hand the joy of meeting needs and making people thankful. At the request of our people we prepared all the food for our annual church Thanksgiving Dinner but rather than enjoy it ourselves we were privileged to take it to a local motel populated with working poor families. That evening we served Thanksgiving to 65 people who would not have had a hot home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner.

I know God put it on the hearts of our people to do this act of love and kindness, but I was thankful that they obeyed Him and served Him so well. Out of that Thanksgiving dinner we made needy people thankful, we were thankful and God was thankful!

That's a good Thanksgiving!

Have you made God thankful lately?