Thankful...With ALL My Heart

As I sit and think about thanksgiving this year and the many things I am thankful for I can't help but remember the cross, and the free gift of grace that was given to me; to say thank you just doesn't seem like enough. I don't really even think I can begin to comprehend what God has done for me through the redemptive work of Jesus on the cross, no matter how many times I read passages like Ephesians 2 or Isaiah 53, I don't fully grasp it, I feel as though I am digging deeper into a love that has no end. A love that is more precious than gold and will never change or fade, a love that is forever mine.

I was thinking about what thanks even means, what does it mean to say "thank you" or to be thankful? Is it merely a word, because quite frankly I can be honest and admit that I have said "thank you" without really being thankful for it. I looked up the word "thanksgiving" in both the dictionary and in the Greek and Hebrew and here is what I found:

Merriam Webster: a) the act of giving thanks (grateful thoughts, gratitude) b) a prayer expressing gratitude c) a public acknowledgement or celebration of divine goodness

Hebrew Lexicon: a celebration of thanks, an acclaim, s inging

Greek Lexicon: an expression of thanks

When I looked at all these defitions the common theme was an expression, or in other words, an action. I guess what I realized was that thanksgiving, being thankful had to be cultivated from within the heart, it had to be something mediated upon, and expressed not merely a word, or a passing thought. I realize that I must have a response to something in order to be grateful for it, or thankful; I must actually respond with an expression of thanks and not merely just look at and not ponder it often. I was thinking about how I should and need to respond to the cross of Christ ALL THE TIME, not just during thanksgiving, and that is with a response of loving Him with all my heart. Deuteronomy 6:5 says, "Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." Of course we are quick to say that's impossible, but is it something that we shouldn't strive for then? That we shouldn't want to do? Absolutely not! We should desire with everything within us to love God with everything that is within us, to strive towards loving Him more everyday and to ask Him to enable us to do that.

I have SO much to be thankful for, the neverending blessings that our God has showered upon me is but a taste of the eternity we have to hope in. But our thanksgiving for ALL things must begin at the reflection of what happened over 2000 years ago in a small town in Israel, when a man of lowly form, his image distorted by wounds unbearable, wearing a crown of thorns, bore a cross down a road as the crowd, His chosen people, who had once accepted him, followed him chose to mock him and crucify him openly... And I wonder what thoughts could be pouring through the head of our precious savior, and then I realize it was me...it was you! And as he hung like a prisoner from a tree with nails and struggled just to breath what did He see? He saw YOU and ME. And then His Father, His perfect Father, crushed him, in fact according to Isaiah 53 He was pleased to crush Him, he was PLEASED to crush Him with the weight of all of my sin and all of yours and pour his wrath upon His precious and beloved son...but why? Because He loved YOU and He loved me! And the pinacle of the redemptive story was accomplished as the King of the Jews bled, hung and died there, all of creation crying as the ground shook below. And in that moment, the victory was WON, it was finished and He conquered death forever. And then three days later rose from the grave, HE HAD WON, and now and forevermore He reigns victoriously in heaven with the Father! It is there that our thanksgiving must always begin both on thanksgiving and each day, and it is from there that we drive motivation and desire to truly love him with ALL OUR HEARTS in response...how could we not.