Worship November 2017
Psalm 100 says,
1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his [a]; We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.
With this Psalm in mind, and as we approach a season of thankfulness, I want to point us to the most important element of our worship – Thanksgiving. In Psalm 100, it is written to enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. When we worship, we give thanks. But why do we give thanks? What are you thankful for in your life? Are you thankful for your family? Your friends? Your job?
The reality is that we have so much to be thankful for. But it’s important to remember to whom we owe our thankfulness. James 1:17 says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above.” It’s important for us to remember than everything we have in this life comes from our Father in Heaven. Our families, our jobs, our money, our things – every good thing is from the Father. We only have Him to thank for the good things in our lives.
But our thankfulness stretches far beyond our material possessions. As children of God, we have eternal life. God calls us Sons and Daughters. Jesus died in our place, for our sins, so that we could live with the Father forever. For this – we are to be eternally thankful, and constantly filled with thankfulness and praise.
So as we approach our time in worship, we reflect on everything we are thankful for – realizing that every thing we have on this earth has been given to us by God. But ultimately, we approach our time with worship filled with thankfulness because we see what God has done for us through his son Jesus. We realize that without the cross, we could not be thankful. We could not have peace. We could not have hope. But thanks be to God, that we can have eternal peace, hope, and righteousness based on what Jesus did for us on the Cross. So as you reflect on what you are thankful for in this season of Thanksgiving, remember the cross. Remember Jesus. Let’s not wait until Christmas to set our hearts on Christ, and what He has done for us. And for what He has done, we are eternally thankful, and our hearts are filled with constant praise!
In Christ,
Jared