Why We Do What We Do

Recently a friend said, "Tom, you've been doing this for more than 43 years. When are you going to hang it up and enjoy life?" The occasion was my 66th birthday. Don't get me wrong, it isn't that I haven't thought about it. But will Mary Ann and I ever 'hang it up?' Never.

Here's why. One thousand years from now, the GracePointe Church facilities will be no more. But GracePointe will live on...in heaven. The people we've won to Christ, baptized and discipled will be there along with all of the others from previous churches Mary Ann and I have served.

So why not rest with the knowledge of that in our hearts? Because God has planned for more to cross our paths and He intends to use us for their salvation experiences.

Get weary? Maybe. Faint? I think not.

Our God is Good

At this time of year, we tend put a lot of emphasis on Christmas. That is because merchants are pushing us in that direction, wanting us to believe that Christmas is all about trimming the tree, buying presents, and so on. In the process of all this, we can very easily forget the beautiful holiday called Thanksgiving.

Originally established as a holiday by President George Washington in 1789, Thanksgiving was initially a religious holiday and, more to the point, a Christian holiday. The first Thanksgiving was different than ours today. It lasted three days, during which the pilgrims feasted with their Indian guests.

Of course, our Thanksgiving is also about gathering with friends and family and having a feast. But sometimes at this particular time of year, we can forget about how thankful we ought to be. We need to never forget that God has blessed us to live in the United States of America, which is, in my opinion, the greatest country on the face of this earth. We have so many privileges here.

We have a lot to give thanks for, and certainly the Bible urges us to give thanks to the Lord. We are told in Psalm 106:1, "Praise the Lord! Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever."

Sometimes worship and thanksgiving can be a sacrifice, because we are down or depressed or things aren't going all that well for us. Maybe hardship or tragedy has hit our lives in some way and we don't want to thank God. But the Bible doesn't say, "Give thanks to the Lord, because you feel good." It says, "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!"