What are you thankful for?

As we get ready for Thanksgiving, our world begins to fill with calls to remember all the reasons we have to be thankful. All the blessings, all the gifts, all the treasures. From family, to friends, to health and happiness, all are reasons to rejoice in this holiday season.

But there is one thankfulness that trumps them all.

I am thankful that I have been saved from my sin.

The Bible is clear that I could not have saved myself. The debt of my sin was too great. I could not repay it with anything short of my life, my soul, my eternity in just judgment.

That's the sad reality that Psalm 49 begins with...

Psalms 49:7-9 - "Truly no man can ransom another,

or give to God the price of his life,

8 for the ransom of their life is costly

and can never suffice,

9 that he should live on forever

and never see the pit."

What hope would you and I have if the pit is our only future? How could we ever be thankful in this world with that dark specter of death and hell looming over us? How could Thanksgiving be anything other than a great game of pretend? What temporal blessings could overtake the shadow of impending doom?

They would all seem small, fleeting, insufficient. And they would be.

Thanksgiving would be a fool's holiday.

I'm thankful though that my death is not the end of Psalm 49 and it

is not the end of my story. I'm thankful that God himself paid the price that I could not. That he redeemed me when I could not and would not redeem myself.

Psalms 49:15 - "But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. Selah"

I don't know what things you'll be thankful for this week. But our chief thanksgiving should always be that God sent his Son to die in our place. That he paid our debt, lifted our curse, and brought life from our body of death.

Don't let Thanksgiving be a day of pretend for you. No number of blessing posts can undo the fact that someone has to pay for your sin. No amount of laughter or glee around the family table can turn away that hellish reality. Your future is found either in the pit or the cross.

Let this hope, this praise, this blessing of God ransoming your soul be the great light that shines on all the other blessings of your life. May all your Thanksgiving blessings be bathed in the bright light of the gospel.

It's time to clean out the fridge.

We all know that moment when we start looking in the refrigerator and realize that there are items in there that are downright scary.

Things hidden. Things forgotten. Things that have seen their expiration date and ran another lap or two.

And it's gross. Disgusting. Even shameful. And sometimes we'll empty the whole fridge in a sort of total war against spoiled foodstuffs.

And it's good riddance to bad rubbish.

But when is the last time we cleaned out our lives like we clean out our fridge? When is the last time you opened the doors of your heart and searched for any hidden sin, any ignored iniquity?

The Lord encourages us to endeavor in the process of heart cleaning, of ridding the rubbish that might still be clinging to our new hearts.

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1 Corinthians 5.7-8 - "Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."

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In Christ, we are new creations, new lumps, yet the old leaven still clings. It holds tight in the nooks and crannies of our hearts, waiting to pop out when we least expect, and it's putrid stench can spoil all the good around it.

So what do we do?

We go cleaning.

We clean out whatever leaven we see, whatever sin that still clings.

We rid our life of the old leaven of things like malice and evil.

Why?

Because of Christ. Because of his sacrifice. Because of what we really are through him - unleavened.

But the Bible doesn't just call us to a cleaning, but to a filling.

We get rid of the rubbish and then we pack the fridge with good things, with sincerity and truth. We stock up.

And why?

So that we might feast.

We clean out the fridge so that we might feast.

Christian, clean out the rubbish. Not just because sin is gross and nasty.

But because it's ruining your feast. The feast-ival has begun. The party has started.

Put down that moldy, rotten meat of the old you and take up life in the Lamb. Pour out the glasses of sour milk and fill your cup with living water. Taste the unleavened bread that is the joy of the Christian life.

Clean out your fridge, Christian.

It's time to feast.

Do you have anything better to do?

Our days are often filled with questions about time, about trying to juggle all the activities in our lives.

When we begin to list all the things we've got going on, it can sometimes feel overwhelming, oppressive even.

We like to think that our schedules are so busy. But, oftentimes, we're busy not with necessities but with things we've decided to add to our life.

No one forces our schedules on us.

No one makes us work the job we do. No one demands our kids be in sports year round. No one forces us take up the hobbies that fill our evenings.

We choose those things because we must think that they are the best ways to spend our time.

If there were better ways, more important things, then we would quit doing what we don't have to do and instead do those things that make for a better life.

But what's sad is that the choices we force upon ourselves are often not the wisest. We fill our schedules with things that add nothing to our lives, that sometimes even rob our lives of good things, and in the end miss out on things that could make our lives rich and full.

Let me show you one rich treasure that is often the first neglected in our busy world --- the Word of God.

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Psalm 19:7-11 - "The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; 8 the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; 9 the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. 11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward."

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When our lives get busy, what is one of the first things we cut out?

Not the project. Not sports. Not more hours at the office. Not our hobbies.

We cut out God's word.

But look at the great value found in God's word. A rich treasure that nothing in this world can match.

Here's what God says about his word...

- perfect

- revives the soul

- sure

- makes wise the simple

- right

- rejoices the heart

- pure

- enlightens the eyes

- clean

- endures forever

- true

- righteous

- desirable

- protect

- great reward

What else in this world can make all those promises?

Yet the Bible is the thing we don't have time for???

How in the world do we make time for anything else!

What TV show can match that promise? What hobby could equal that blessing?

We'll drag our families to the ball field where we will spend hours, but when's the last time we sat at the dinner table reading God's word for longer than 15 minutes?

We'll come home late because we had to make a little extra in our paycheck, but where's the investment in the treasure of God's word that he says is more desirable than any gold or silver your job might provide?

Don't have the time?

We don't have the time NOT to do these things.

Our lives are short and yet through the Word, those lives can be richly blessed. We can flourish. We can feast.

Instead our homes are a place of famine. A famine of the Word of God.

Our marriages are rocky. Our children don't know the Lord. Our house is not really all that different from our godless neighbor's.

We are robbing our children and our families of the great treasure that God has laid in front of us. The rich blessing that can turn our home into a place of raucous feasting and fun.

Look at those promises God makes about his word.

What else can match those? What activity can even compare to those promises?

Today, may our eyes be opened to the great value in God's word. May we not fit the word into our schedule but may we force our schedule to fit around time in God's word. May we be willing to make great changes, dropping any activity or commitment that is stealing from our time in God's word. May time in God's word be the foundation that everything else is built on, not the thing we throw into our day if we have any time left over.

We will not regret it. That's His promise.

Do you have anything better to do?

Give God the fat.

We live in a busy world. Sometimes, by necessity.

Usually, by choice.

How are Christians supposed to navigate a world that seems to eat up so much of our time?

Here's some guidance from the book of Leviticus...

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Leviticus 3:12-16 - “If his offering is a goat, then he shall offer it before the LORD 13 and lay his hand on its head and kill it in front of the tent of meeting, and the sons of Aaron shall throw its blood against the sides of the altar. 14 Then he shall offer from it, as his offering for a food offering to the LORD, the fat covering the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails 15 and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys. 16 And the priest shall burn them on the altar as a food offering with a pleasing aroma. All fat is the LORD’s."

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Here we have instruction on giving sacrifices to the Lord, and what guidance does the Lord give the people?

"All fat is the Lord's."

What does that mean?

Well, the fat was the best part. It was the juiciest, choicest parts of the meat.

To give God the fat was to give God the best.

We fill our lives up either with the things that the world tells us we must do. Or the things that we think our life needs or our kids need.

Busy. Busy. Busy.

And God often gets what's left over.

But God doesn't want the leftovers in our life. God is supposed to get the best.

God gets the fat.

Is that what you're giving to God with your life? Are you giving him the first cut? The choicest parts?

In your time, do you give God whatever time remains in the busy schedule that you've made for yourself? Job. Hobbies. Sports. Kids activities. Oh, and some time here for God (if this other stuff doesn't come and take that too). Or does God have first priority? Is his part untouchable?

How about with finances? Have you strapped yourself so much on all other spending that you don't even have the money to give God what you know he deserves? You don't have money for God but you do for Netflix or cell phones or internet or a newer car? Because, well, you've got to have those things. Is something as small of even 10% beyond your reach because of how you've decided to spend the other 90+%? Are the leftovers your giving God shrinking more and more because there's so much you've just God to have and God will get whatever pennies remain?

God doesn't want your leftovers. He demands the best.

Is that what you're giving to God?

Mark off parts of your time and label them - "For God's use only". And let yourself and the world know that this time cannot be taken by anything less than your God.

Take the first part of that paycheck and write "God's" on it so that the world doesn't even get a chance to take a bite out.

In your day. In your marriage. In your parenting. In your job choice. In your church life. In your thoughts. In your speech. In everything.

In every area, make sure you're giving God your best.

Don't give him the scraps.

Give him the best.

Give God the fat.

Home.

Where are you from? Where’s your home?

There’s just something about that word — “home” — that carries strong emotion.

For some, home evokes sweet memories of childhood, of play, of warmth and growth.

But not all homes are happy places.

For some, home was a place of fear or chaos.

And you sit bearing scars that you fear you can never escape. Wounds that have shaped you. Broken homes that have broken you.

But what if God promised us a new home?

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Psalms 87:3-6

Glorious things of you are spoken,

O city of God. Selah

Among those who know me I mention Rahab and Babylon;

behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Cush—

“This one was born there,” they say.

And of Zion it shall be said,

“This one and that one were born in her”;

for the Most High himself will establish her.

The Lord records as he registers the peoples,

“This one was born there.” Selah

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The psalmist is talking about life in the city of God.

And in that city, he mentions some interesting people - Rahab, Babylon, Tyre, Cush.

These are not names you would associate with God’s house.

In the Old Testament, these are the bad guys, the enemies of God’s people. They don’t belong here.

They weren’t born in Zion. They hated that place. They were it’s arch enemies.

Yet the psalmist says that the city of God has become their new home.

But it doesn’t just say it is their home, as if they have simply moved. It now the place they were born, where they are from.

No more will they be associated with their former broken homes. No longer will they be Philistines or Babylonians.

Their birthplace has changed.

They have been born again and with that new birth comes a new hometown.

And it’s not just them.

It says that this one and that one - literally “and this man and that man” - will have the same story. That the city of God will be teeming with those who have been given new birthplaces.

And that it is God himself who records for all eternity - “This one was born there.”

If you are a child of God, this is your story too.

The truth is all of us were born in Babylon. That’s where our story began. That was the home that held our hearts captive. And it would have been our destruction.

But when God saves us, when we are born again, God pulls us from this broken world and gives us a new home.

A new birthplace, a new identity, and with it a new future.

And God himself is the one who says, “This one’s from here now.”

And on your new birth certificate, he writes “Birthplace: Zion”

What joy! What hope!

Those words carry such promise. They are mercy and grace.

With God, it doesn’t matter what your home life was like. It doesn’t matter how broken your past is. It doesn’t matter how broken you are.

God changes it all when he changes you.

You’re not who you were.

You’re not where you’re from.

Everything has changed. You’re his now.

And one day, you’ll hear these sweet words from your God, words maybe you thought you’d never get to hear...

“Welcome home.”