The title of this blog is a very timely and appropriate question to ask today as we are a few days removed from the Thanksgiving holiday and from one of the biggest shopping days of the year, called Black Friday. And as I talked with people within the few weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, there was more interest and planning and discussion about Black Friday than there was the actual Thanksgiving holiday. Now don’t get me wrong! Thank God for the opportunity to spend less money on items to shop, because I already did some Christmas shopping online last Friday night. But my problem with Black Friday is that this is another way that 5 Avenue advertisers has found to exploit and commercialize a holiday. We even now have Cyber Monday. Black Friday also reveals that some of our priorities are in the wrong place as a nation. Did anyone see the video of the people getting trampled over at a Target in Buffalo, NY? How can we complain about our economy and personal debt when we are spending our Thanksgiving holiday camped outside stores in anticipation of Black Friday? I wish people would camp outside of the church to wait for the doors to open to worship God who gave them the money to shop on Black Friday. Black Friday is also a paradigm of how unthankful we can be as a nation because it causes us to look past Thanksgiving; a day we have set aside to give God thanks for all that he has done for us throughout the year. With all the effort we put into Black Friday (and we put a lot of effort into it by downloading and collecting online circulars, creating shopping team, strategizing what stores we’ll hit first, who we will elbow or clothesline to get to the item we want first, etc.) we have forgotten to be thankful unto God who has richly blessed us beyond our imagination. Did you really remember God and tell him thank you for your blessings. Did you really count your blessings and name them one by one? Did you really count your many blessings and see what God has done? I heard a song writer say, “O’ give thanks, unto the Lord, for He is good, yes he is good!” For He is worthy, worthy! For he is good, yes he is good!” We have been so spoiled by God that we have forgotten and taken for granted on how good He really is! On last Thursday, did you think back on how good He was when He:
On last Thursday, did you show a sense of gratitude when He:
Did anybody say Thank you Jesus! Thank you for saving me! Thank you that you loved me enough to die for me! Thank you for being JEHOVAH-JIREH, JEHOVAH-SHALOM, JEHOVAH-NISSI, JEHOVAH-ROHI and JEHOVAH-ROPHE! Thank you for Calvary! We are living in a day and time and in a society where people no longer carry a thankful heart. In the third chapter of the II Timothy, the apostle Paul warned that in the last days perilous time would come. In the last days, there would be a coming apostasy marked with false believers and churches, an ever-increasing wickedness in the world, and a collapse of our moral standards. I want you to know that time is now and we need to be ready and right with our Lord. Paul then gives examples of the increased ungodliness as history approaches the end of the age. Men would be lovers of own selves (Self-centered, Arrogant), without natural affection (Family affections), lovers of money and pleasure more than God, professing Christianity without the power of God being manifested in their lives, leading people astray from the truth of the gospel, resisting the truth of the gospel, corrupt & reprobate. Oh by the way, one characteristic on Paul's list that I did not previously mention above…..‘unthankfulness.’ Because we are so blessed, we operate with a sense of entitlement as if God has to bless us because it is our expectation, instead of bringing him a gift of ‘Thank you.’ At Agape Ministries COGIC, we open up our worship every Sunday with Psalm 100, “Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.” The psalmist said, “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.” On last Sunday, did you bring the same enthusiasm with you to church as you did when you celebrated Black Friday while hunting down your deals? Did you even go to church or did you forget to bless him name and thank Him for being good? Be Blessed! Pastor |
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