Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Sacrifice of Thanksgiving

     Today is my Thanksgiving dinner for my family so I am in the kitchen cooking.  Here is one of my favorite lessons from last Thanksgiving.
     As I was reading over the scriptures of thanksgiving, I noticed there was a phrase that appeared repeatedly. It was the phrase, 'sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise'. I have pondered the relationship between sacrifice and thanksgiving. What does that really mean? Doesn't the word sacrifice mean to give up something you want or need? Again, how does this fit together? When things do not make sense, you have to go back to the original meaning of the word. The Greek word for sacrifice is 'the act of offering' and the Hebrew word can mean 'gift', a gift of tribute. Now it is starting to make sense. We are to give praise and thanksgiving to God as an act of offering a gift of tribute
     I will make a confession to you. At times, I have wrapped a gift by sticking it in a WalMart sack. If I needed to step it up a bit, I have even put the present in a used gift bag. However, I still put it in the WalMart sack first because I didn't have any tissue paper. I know some of you are shaking your head in agreement because you have received one of those gifts from me! Now, let me also say, there have been times when I have given a very special gift and I put the effort into making the presentation of it as special as the gift. I placed the gift in a perfectly sized box, with nicely folded tissue paper, wrapped in beautiful paper, with crisp folds around the corners and folded edges instead of cut edges, all with double sided tape, beautiful ribbons, and a fluffy bow. You could just look at the gift and know that I took time, effort, and love to demonstrate honor to the recipient.
     When you give your praise and thanksgiving to God, how are you offering it? Do you just throw a few "thank you's" at the end of your prayer? Or do you take time to ponder Who God is and the mighty things God does for you? Do you offer your thanksgiving in a humble, purposeful, honoring way? In other words, do you take you gift of thanksgiving and stick it in a WalMart sack, or do you give it in a beautifully wrapped box that sparkles with love?

Offer to God the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High.
Psalm 50:14

1 comment:

Steph said...

You know...when I used to pray I would start out with my requests but by the time I got to Thanking God for all the wonder blessings in life...I would either fall asleep or get side tracked. So now I start out with my thanksgivings first. Often when I realize how many things I am thankful for my requests are not even for myself but for others. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and I will backblog next week to catch up! Love ya!