To say last year or has been unique would be a massive understatement. The COVID-19 pandemic has created disruptions unimaginable just a year ago. Many, too many are isolated, feeling alone, living in fear so that hopelessness and depression cover them like a shroud.
Yet there is hope and so much to be thankful for. That’s what I’d like to talk about today.
We respond to God’s provision with being thankful.
Consider these thoughts from God’s Word:
You are made on purpose, for God’s purpose.
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
Psalm 139:13-14
You have great value to God.
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
Matthew 6:26
God loves you and He calls you His child.
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.
1 John 3:1
I love the way that statement ends: “And so we are.” It is an objective truth and reality, regardless of how you might think or feel about yourself.
God protects and provides for you.
But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you.
Psalm 5:11
The greatest of all God’s provision is forgiveness and salvation.
She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."
Matthew 1:21
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16
And God does not stop there. But He continues to provide for you, protect you and bless you.
He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
Romans 8:32
So how does thankfulness connect with our stewardship?
Stewardship begins with realizing that everything is God’s. That includes your stuff.
Check out Psalm 50:10-12
For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine.
If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.
You are a treasured possession of God. Consider Exodus 19:5-6
Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.'
It follows then, that since you are His possession, ownership extends to all He has provided for you.
Let us pause to reflect on God’s many blessings. Give Him thanks and praise for who He is, and for what He has done. Then I encourage you to go out and extend His love and blessings to others He puts in your path. Pray for your Pastor and church workers. And be as generous as God enables you to be, remembering that everything is His. All He asks of us is to be good stewards (or managers) of what is His.
May God bless you greatly in the coming days.
In Christ,
Pastor Rick Tabisz
