“That my heart may sing to you and not
be silent. O Lord my God, I will give
thanks to you forever" (Psalm 30:12)
“He saved us,
not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy”
(Titus 3:5)
“And whatever you do, whether in word or
deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father
through Him” (Colossians 3:17)
“Nor should
there be obscenity, foolish talk or course jesting, which are out of place, but
rather thanksgiving" (Ephesians 5:4)
Kevin
Bauer was dead in transgressions and sins, but because of God’s great love,
made him alive in Christ; for "it is by grace you have been saved" (Ephesians
2:1, 4-5)
“Saying, “Amen!
Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to
our God forever and ever" (Revelation 7:12)
“Give thanks
to the Lord, for he is good. His love
endures forever” (Psalm 136:1)
“I will give thanks
to you, Lord, with all my heart, I will tell of all your wonderful deeds”
(Psalm 9:1)
Victory
over death itself through Jesus: “Where O death, is your victory? Where O death, is your sting? But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:55, 57)
“I will praise
God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving” (Psalm 69:30)
“Now, our God,
we give you thanks and praise your glorious name” (1 Chronicles 29:13)
“Give thanks
in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1
Thessalonians 5:18)
It was more difficult to create an acrostic with the word
“thanksgiving” than I first thought it would be! But I still enjoyed composing it.
Did you notice what I did for the difficult letters of K
and V? For the letter K, I put my name, and cited
Ephesians 2:1, 4-5. Of course, I did
this because that passage reads, “As for you, you were dead in your
transgressions and sins…but because of his great love for us, God, who is rich
in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions
and sins – it is by grace you have been saved.”
I’m so thankful to God for the incredible gift of salvation
from the penalty of sin, through Jesus Christ. I'm so thankful for friendship and fellowship with the Lord. Nothing trumps this gift.
As for the letter V, I stated the theme of 1 Corinthians 15:55
and 57 first. This is a passage that
speaks of how the power and sting of death has been defeated. If Jesus didn’t literally and bodily arise from
the dead, Christianity is just a bad joke. But “Christ has indeed been raised from the
dead" (1 Corinthians 15:20). Jesus is risen; He is
risen, indeed! Therefore, death itself has been defeated. What does that mean? For the Christian, death is nothing more than
transporting to the presence of Jesus in Heaven. I am thankful for this assurance.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Kevin
