Tag: A Word for Wednesday

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At the Heart of Thanksgiving

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. —1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

He was isolated from the healthy population—his leprosy had sentenced him there—and to some degree, a social outcast, a Samaritan living somewhere along the border between Samaria and Galilee. So, as Jesus entered his village, none of the locals, and least of all this man, could have predicted his imminent moment of fame, forever after scrivened into the annuls of Scripture. What was his heroic feat? Simply this: he said, “Thank you.” Though Jesus healed ten lepers that day, only he, anonymous to us for now, returned to his Healer, teeming with gratitude. “He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him.”1

Sometimes we confuse excitement with gratitude, but they are not the same. We can gush over a gift received, for instance, yet undervalue the heart of the one who lovingly gave it. Such was the case with the nine other lepers healed that day, as Jesus noted, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?”2 Therein lies the crux of the matter: thankfulness honors the heart of giver; it appreciates the person behind the gift. So, in this season of Thanksgiving, take time to consider and laud the heart of God in all circumstances.

Thank Him for His limitless love and faithfulness. “I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations. For your steadfast love is great above the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.”3

Thank Him for His attentive mercy and protection. “Blessed be the Lord! For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy. The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.”4

Thank Him in good times. “Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation. Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them.”5

Thank Him even in a fallen world. “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”6

Father, You are good to me. Attune my heart in gratitude to You. Hear me now, and receive my thanks . . . In Christ I pray. Amen.

1 Luke 17:16
2 Luke 17:17-18
3 Psalm 108:3-4
4 Psalm 18:6-7
5 Psalm 111:1-2
6 Habakkuk 3:17-18 NIV

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Tough Talk from a Good Father

I conducted hundreds of interviews throughout my professional career. Some candidates were fascinating, as were their answers, and a few dialogues were downright fun. Along the way, I began to include what would become a “make or break” interview question: How do you handle criticism? Without fail, responses fell into one of two categories—fear or openness. The former came forth emphatically, as nearly a muzzled shout, “No one likes criticism!” The more reasoned response sounded something like this: “I think about the criticism and how it was expressed. If it is true and constructive, I appreciate their observation and work toward improving myself, but if it is not true, I regard their comment with a grain of salt.” I could work with these latter folks.

God speaks to us as a good father would speak to his children—with loving words of instruction, encouragement, and affirmation. Yet good fathers also speak words of correction, discipline, and even disapproval of certain actions and attitudes; it would be cruel for them to sit idly by and not give their children at least the opportunity to learn potentially costly lessons at the comparatively small price of reproof. For it is regarding our “struggle against sin”1 that the writer of Hebrews recalls this “word of encouragement”2 from Solomon’s proverb, “Do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”3

God would prefer we continually submit ourselves to Him and to follow His Spirit in the ways that are good and right; His Word inclines our renewed hearts in this direction. Yet when our sinful nature is tantalized and we succumb to temptation, God just as lovingly speaks reprimand and correction. Paul teaches us the way of our Heavenly Father: “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.”4 David likewise lauds the value of divine discipline, “Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O Lord, and whom you teach out of your law, to give him rest from days of trouble.”5

Then how do we receive celestial rebuke, and how must we respond to godly correction? It begins with trusting the heart from which God speaks: “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline,”6 said the ascended Savior to His apostle John. Then we turn back to Him, not in timidity, but in the confidence of our Father’s embrace. Concluded Jesus to John, “so be zealous and repent.”7

You are our good Father. Correct us as You must, that our lives would be pleasing to You. Even in reproof we will trust You, for Your love for us, Your children, knows no end. In Christ we pray. Amen.

1 Hebrews 12:4
2 Hebrews 12:5
3 Hebrews 12:5-6 (cf Proverbs 3:11-12)
4 2 Timothy 3:16 NLT 
5 Psalm 94:12-13
6 Revelation 3:19
7 Revelation 3:19

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The Good Life

I was 13 when “the Jesus revolution” (not the film, but the real thing) began to sweep through my home town of five thousand people. Like new movies, this Holy Spirit movement reached us two or three years after “release,” but when it came, it was enthusiastically received. Now, small town people know most of the others, or at least we know of them, and I began to see lives change. Drastically. Once-steely faces now shone in newfound gratitude. Rebellious hearts became humble, their testimonies overflowing in eager hopes that others might also discover new life in Christ and the indwelling of the Spirit. I kept waiting for people to “change back” to their old selves, but few ever did. So, I wanted the joy that she had, the peace that he had, and the certainty that they had. But what exactly was this change, this apparent newness of life?

In the New Testament, we find three Greek words translated “life” in English. “Bios” [bee’-os] refers to the physical body (think “biology”), and “psuche” [psoo-khay’] refers to the breath that gives life to our bodies, and also our feelings, desires, and emotions (think “psychology”). With these we are born, and without them we die. But the life Jesus brings us is very different; in Greek it is “zoe” [dzo-ay’]. This is the very life of God—it is His by nature, it was His before creation, and He sustains it through His ever-enduring being. It is this life—God’s own “zoe” life—that is born in us when we place our faith in His Son. Jesus said that if He is not in us, we have no [zoe] life in us, but if He lives in us through faith, we have eternal [zoe] life, and He will raise us up on the last day.1 We who are in Him will always live, because He who is in us will never die.

Jesus once said, “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit, and are [zoe] life.”2 It is, perhaps, a deeper glimpse into Jesus’ assertion of this from Deuteronomy, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”3 God speaks His Word—His life—into our very being. Knowing this, why would we ever deprive ourselves of His Word? For through it, God speaks life to us—the new and forever life of joy, peace, and certainty.

“In Him was [zoe] life, and the [zoe] life was the Light of mankind.”4

Father, You are my life and before You I quiet my soul. Speak that I would hear Your words of spirit and life—Your “zoe” life. In Christ I pray. Amen.


1 John 6:53-54
2 John 6:63 NASB
3 Matthew 4:4 NASB (cf Deuteronomy 8:3)
4 John 1:4 NASB