I think that is some ways I (and I don’t think that I’m alone) got the wrong idea about how we live as Christians. Therefore I didn’t understand how to celebrate “Thanksgiving.”
Somewhere I was given the mistaken idea that we, as Christians, were to live by a rather restrictive system of rules; a set of moral laws from on high that we absolutely could not break. I lived in fear of breaking those rules. By the time I was an adolescent I had this rather nagging imagination that life in Christ was like being in prison, or at the very least a strict military school..
This perspective led to a major mistake (one that people living in the world make about us); I thought (and frankly many Christians think) that we must be having absolutely the worst possible time in all the world. How could we be having any fun? What in the world did we have to be thankful for? Rejoicing was not even in our sphere. We must be such miserable, joyless creatures!
What could Christians possibly have to be thankful for?
This was and is, of course, a common misunderstanding about the nature of our lives in Christ (an assumption that I came to simply by living and watching those around me)!
There was and still is no real “Goodness of God” in the picture. My imagination did not include “joy.” There’s no Spirit in the holy places they imagine. And there’s no joy in any of it.
It has taken years for me to realize that what we, as Christians, experience in “Thanksgiving” is the reality that we are rejoicing in the “Generosity of God’s Goodness” towards us.
Christians are called to be a rejoicing people! Christians are a people who celebrate life!
It’s the cycle of spirituality that defines our being.
God delights in us, and in Jesus within us, and as we bask in His acceptance and pleasure, our own delight in Him grows and expands as we continue to “Thank” Him for all He is and all He does.
Thanksgiving is the very basis of our worship.
Worship isn’t simply a few hymns or some pretty tunes. It’s the rejoicing of a community that has citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven, worship is the return of His delight to Him in the form of our own.
It’s not a rote thing, some archaic ritual handed down through the generations for those generations to bore future generations to sleep with; it’s a living, breathing expression of who we are.
Living in Christ is like having the best conversation with your favorite people, like doing your dream job and doing it well. It’s like vacationing in your favorite spot, and deciding to move there.
When you don’t factor in enjoyment or rejoicing in your life as a Christian, then there’s a central piece to the puzzle missing from your life. Without the foundation of “REJOICE AND AGAIN I SAY REJOICE” it is very difficult to celebrate around a thanksgiving table.
It’s like having Thanksgiving dinner without the turkey, or a movie night without a TV. It just doesn’t work. It doesn’t make sense.
We as Christians are captivated by Jesus. We’re not held captive.
We focus our attention on Him, flowing in the nature of God Himself, moving in the fruit of the Holy Spirit. When we’re filled with Christ, it becomes such a natural thing for us to “rejoice and be thankful”!
That’s why Thanksgiving is such a beautiful day for Christians. The cycle of the Spirit continues, the wheel turning on delight and joy, and a radiant glimpse of a future that promises more to come.
Rejoicing is the essence of worship, the essence of our lives as Christians.
So enjoy “Thanksgiving” by “Rejoicing” in the very Presence of the Christ that is found in the gathering of family and friends”
