Chris' Christian Blog

November 19, 2018

"November 19, 2018" 

"Prompt Write a thank-you letter to God, Santa, Thanksgiving Turkey, Pilgrims, Indians, or anyone else you wish. Tell why you are thanking them and how much their support has helped you in your life."

I thank God every day of my life even if it's only for waking me up. The Apostle Paul told us that we are to be thankful in everything. He set the bar pretty high by the example he set. You see when he told us to be thankful in everything he was in prison. Prisons in his time were dungeons where the prisoner would be chained to a wall and often go for days at a time without food and water. So if Paul could be thankful in those circumstances then it behooves us to be thankful in whatever circumstances we are in. Hardships are a gift. We never see them as such when we are in the midst of them but we always grow from them. Hardship to a human is like manure to a plant. We need a good size scoop to keep us growing! So I thank God everyday, especially for the trials. I usually tell Him that I'm not sure what He wants me to learn but I know He wants me to learn something. So I am thankful in all things.
Now as far as thanking a turkey, I don't know if I want to do that. I'd feel like a bit of a hypocrite for saying "Thank you for allowing me to eat you Turkey."
I'm sure that if the turkey had any other choice it would not be on the table! So I don't want to thank the turkey. However I will thank God for providing the turkey! I also thank the veterans I live with for providing me with freedom. All too often that is taken for granted.

"Prompt: Write about forgiveness."

What excellent blog prompts today! The blog prompts from both forums have been wonderful today!
Forgiveness is an absolute must for us. Jesus tells us that forgiveness is a must as well. He says "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly father will forgive your trespasses. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly father forgive your trespasses," Matthew 6: 14-15.
I know myself well enough to know that I am not perfect. I sin a lot. As a sinner I stand in need of God's forgiveness. Now I learn that forgiveness depends totally on my willingness to forgive others! Yes I forgive no matter what the offense is on the same conditions that God forgives me. God's conditions are simple: One must be truly repentant. Since I cannot judge the heart of another to determine if they are truly repentant or not, my duty is to forgive no matter what. I forgive as if my very soul depends on it because guess what? My soul does depend on it! I need God's forgiveness! Besides it is much easier to forgive people who have harmed me than it is to carry that many ton bag of grudges around with me. Many people cannot make progress in their lives because of all the garbage they choose to drag around with them. It's very tiring to carry all those grudges and grudges build walls that isolate us from others. So not only is it tiring but it's also very lonely. Some of the best friendships I have came to be because I made amends with another. I usually find that once I start forgiving and loving on people I find the same being returned. It's refreshing and invigorating. God knows that forgiveness helps us way more than the person being forgiven and that is why He commands us to forgive in order to be forgiven.