LYCOMING CENTRE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

November 2009

Volume 2009  Issue 10

Centre News

             As we once again come upon the season of Thanksgiving, Christians should be the most thankful of all.  With the uncertainty of the economy and job loss at record highs, many are finding it difficult to be thankful this year.  Understanding that these are indeed trying times, God reminds his people that we are called to “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1Thess. 5:18).  Here are a few things God has been, and is, graciously teaching me on how to be thankful and joyful in Jesus in trying times:

 

1.  Don’t Obsess Over Children.  This is probably one of the biggest sources of worry in the Christian life.  We spend hours upon hours obsessing over the way our children behave or how they make us look in front of other people.  The sooner we realize that we are not perfect parents and will not have perfect children, the more our experience will be filled with the joy of trusting God with our children.  Children should be a source of happiness and thankfulness, not the robbers of it.

 

2.  Don’t Obsess Over Money.  We must realize that not only do our possessions come from God but so too does the ability to acquire possessions.  Money is good and useful in its place. However, we too quickly obsess over it.  Our love of money is quickly exposed when we think we don’t have as much as our covetous hearts believe we need.  Obsessing over money is a sure destroyer of joy and thankful hearts everywhere.

 

3.  Don’t Obsess Over Work. Work is a blessing from God.  It demonstrates our being created in the image of the God who is ever working for His glory and the good of His people. But when we are emotionally up and down based on the state of our work, it reveals that we have ceased to trust in the God who created us and are trusting in our abilities to create our own realities.   Obsessing over work is a sin that kills joy and gratitude and hinders us from doing the work of the Kingdom of God.

 

4.  Don’t Obsess Over Sports or Recreation. Sports (including hunting) seem harmless enough.  However, honesty should compel us to recognize when our emotional and spiritual well-being is affected by the score of the football, basketball, baseball, or (God forbid) the hunting tally: “Have you got your buck yet? Why, yes I have!!!!” When it comes to sports, I like what Matt Chandler said recently, “If nineteen-year-old boys are ruining your day because of what they do with a ball, that’s a problem.”  Obsessing over sports or recreation—whether it is your favorite college team, your child’s little league, or a trophy buck—will inevitably steal joy because win or lose the joy of Christ is not foremost.

 

Lastly,

 

5.  Do Obsess Over Grace.  Here is the source of the joy that the Bible refers to as inexpressible (1 Peter 1:8); and the peace that surpasses all understanding (Phil. 4:7).  Grace is the pleasure of God experienced by His people in the forgiveness of their sin.  The more we are aware of our sin, the more thankfulness and gratefulness we potentially experience because our sins have been forgiven in Christ.  Therefore, let’s take our boast off of our children, money, work, and sports and recreation and put it where it needs to be in order to bring us the most joy – namely the cross of Christ (Gal. 6:10).   If we can take the passion with which we obsess over the first four and transfer it to our obsession with number five, then happiness and thankfulness will mark out the people of God and it will also cause the world to stand up and ask, “What possesses you?”  To which we would reply, “I am possessed by Him who did not spare his own son but gave him up for me and now delights, along with him, to give me all things in His name.” (Romans 8:32). Now that is something truly to be thankful for.

 

Thanksgiving blessings,

Billy