“In his name the nations will put their hope.””

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭12‬:‭21‬ ‭NIV‬‬

This verse is the essential celebration of Christmas.

War, social ills, struggles of every shape and size, all are ongoing, endemic features of maturing societies. 

A Christian nation is one that recognizes and places its hope in someone superior to its governing structure for solutions to its woes. 

Watching our elected representatives unashamed to publicly acknowledge God and to pray for navigation in their decisions is both humble and comforting.

When a nation is willing to place its faith in an active and loving God like ours, the essential hope of Christmas isn’t limited to a season. 

The celebration of Christ’s birth, life, death, and resurrection is an everyday phenomenon evident in those nations who are willingly led by the divine in submission to a much greater power. 

This is the essential message of Christmas we can celebrate all year long.

Done right, Thanksgiving is a two-parter.

Today is both for thanks and for giving.

It’s you thanking God for all he’s provided, and you giving to others which, in turn, provides them another reason to be thankful.

It starts the cycle with aim of it continuing on repeat.

Done right, Thanksgiving is a two-parter.

Today, the center of your Thanksgiving table will play host to the main event of your choice.

Might be turkey, could be ham or lamb, or even something else warm and special prepared by loving hands.

It’s those loving hands that make this holiday so dear to us all.

Few things are more savory as the moment all those loving hands join together encircling the many good things God provides to express our gratitude and thanks and hopes for a joyous holiday season.

If it’s your turn to find just the right words to offer God and others, prepare them from your heart and proclaim them to your families and friends in the spirit of Thanksgiving.

Jehovah Jireh is our God who provides all we need, so choose thankfulness and make his place central to your holiday table.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

““Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.””

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭11‬:‭28‬-‭30‬ ‭NIV‬‬

As I make yet another trip around the sun for a 65th year, I reflect on the prior 64 enablers and all their yokes and burdens. 

Jesus twice refers to the much sought after rest for which we yearn as we become obedient warriors. 

I’m not sure I’m ready for it. 

There is still so much kingdom work remaining and a harvest yet to be gleaned, it’s unthinkable to stop now. 

In personal purview of maybe another 10-15 remaining lucid years, I may move a little slower and process things with a little more effort, but I finally have become friends with the shape of my heart. 

Whole devotion isn’t a prize won at a circus arcade. It’s a privilege earned through trials and errors and intentional personal growth and discipline. Easier yokes and lighter burdens are the rewards until that final rest comes into clear view. 

I often say I expect to be a short timer due to my mounting health issues but God has obviously given me another year as a gift for persevering in his harvest. 

For that, as for everything in my lifetime of experiences, I am humbly grateful. 

And for every small part you have played in it along the way, I’m equally thankful. 

Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.””
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭5‬:‭2‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Stubborn would be an understatement.

Those of us who’ve watched Charlton Heston in ‘The 10 Commandments’ from the passenger seats of our living rooms witnessed 2nd hand what followed in awe.

As the miracle of plagues waged on, Pharaoh laughed in the face of God, soon to discover that God always wins.

Not unlike present day deniers among us in increasing numbers who have misplaced themselves as pharaohs and kings of this world, they all will eventually fall and kneel to the God of the universe.

“Who is the Lord that I should obey him?” asks Pharaoh.

FAFO.

Meanwhile at the burning bush…

Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” But Moses said,

Pardon your servant, Lord.
Please send someone else.
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭4‬:‭10‬-‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

God can answer prayer in every possible way from here to Hawaii and still you don’t want his solution.

Even after hearing his voice audibly and witnessing his miracles firsthand, Moses resisted.

This really hits home for me and probably for you.

My God, literally what will it take for you to proceed in faith when God offers a bona fide, real time, in person answer to your prayer?

Seriously, sometimes we need to pause praying long enough to hear God speaking.

Resistance is futile.

While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭9‬:‭10‬-‭11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Who’s around your 2025 Thanksgiving table?

Donkeys and elephants with opinions and some still with an axe to grind awaiting their cue. 

Few things spoil a nice dinner more than politics. 

Jesus came to Matthew’s for dinner at a table populated by what at the time was considered the scum of society. 

What’s not reported in this account are the conversations he encountered, but suffice to say, they were colorful.

But sharing a meal with someone or everyone in your family or friend group meant you accepted them, valued them, and considered them part of your circle. (Acts 2:46)

Welcoming someone to your table was one of the highest acts of love.

Rabbis often taught during meals so it’s likely the table became a classroom. 

Whatever the discourse, rest assured it was civil.

Be a good host. More importantly, be a good guest. 

Leaving politics outside makes room for more important and genuinely consequential things to happen. 

Revelation describes eternal life as a feast — the ultimate expression of restored relationship with God and one another.

Make yours a happy Thanksgiving. 

When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned.

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭39‬:‭3‬-‭4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Successful and handsome, too. 

Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭39‬:‭6‬-‭7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Some guys have it all. Fortune, fame, sex appeal…the perfect man. 

The envy of every guy, Joseph had mad skills and to top it off, incomparable virtue and morals. 

I’ve encountered a few of these incredible men in my life. And I mean incredible literally in that it’s hard to believe one man can have the whole package the rest of us only in piecemeal aspire to.

Tempering my own envy is a truth and conviction that despite what it may seem, no man has it all. No man is perfect except Jesus.

Being enamored with the traits of another isn’t a bad thing except when you misplace your personal standards in doing so. 

Someone out there right now mistakenly views you as the perfect person. It may be hard to believe but it’s true.

The standards we hold and ascribe to are relative and even more importantly, conversely, they are reflective of our own shortcomings. 

Our standard is to be more like Jesus in every way. One perfect man, one perfect life.

Don’t ever lose sight of this. Your value lies in who you are on your journey right now on your road through sanctification to perfection. 

When the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭37‬:‭28‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Jealousy drives people to do crazy stuff to vanquish what they view as competition. 

Ironically, jealousy says a lot more about you than about the object of your jealousy.

To admire, then wish obsessively for something merely underscores your own nature of greed and discontent.

When it’s not reigned in, jealousy starts bitter wars all based on your conviction that you deserve something more or something better. 

Humility is its opposite. 

In fact, as sinners we deserve nothing but to be thankful for the generosity of God and for his salvation. 

But we’re competitive by nature. The very nature we are to have abandoned as followers of Christ. 

This week of Thanksgiving, let us not frustrate ourselves over who we aren’t or what we don’t have. 

Be thankful of WHOSE we are and for what we DO possess as a result.

Jealousy has no place in our lives and undermines thankfulness. 

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 

Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭11‬-‭12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Nothing says faith in Jesus quite like being hated for it. 

It’s one thing to say you believe in Jesus. 

It’s another to follow him. 

And yet still another to willingly endure wrath on account of him. 

His apostles suffered unspeakable torture and death from which they could have easily escaped. 

But their experience with Jesus had been so real and transformative, to deny something which had become so innate placed that option completely off their radar. 

💯 percent sold out for Jesus is a tall order to fill, but so is being brutally and willingly crucified for humanity.