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Be Thankful

             Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, (Hebrews 12:28)

 

When the Israelites left Egypt, they thought they were going to have an easy time of it, and discovered they were wrong. When they crossed the Jordan to take the Promised Land, they thought they were going to have an easy time-  especially after Jericho. They found out they were wrong. When they thought they could worship the gods of the land and God, they thought they’d have an easy time of it. They were wrong and ended up in exile. When the Romans invaded England, they thought they’d have an easy time of it. They found out they were mistaken. When the settlers and later the Puritans came to the New World, well, you can already see where this is going.

The reason we have Thanksgiving is in memory of the survival of a group of people who had been well on their way to dying out. It seems that whenever we think we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, it and we get shaken. But the Scripture above says that we have received a kingdom that can’t be shaken, for which we should be thankful. The key is in the identity of the kingdom. If it is our kingdom, it will end up (in Elvis’ words) “all shook up.” If it is God’s kingdom, it can’t be shaken even if we are.

Jesus told Peter that Satan had requested to sift him like wheat. But when the shaking was over, he was to turn back and strengthen the brothers. God’s kingdom isn’t shakable. Ours is. We should be thankful because God makes His kingdom available to us, and because it can’t be shaken. But notice that our thankfulness isn’t the kind that I – or we – want. I’ve often said that I want a knight in shining armor to show up, make everything all better, and ride off into the sunset with my momentary gratitude and a nagging idea that he’ll be called on again.

According to today’s verse, That’s not how things are supposed to work. When God gives us His kingdom, we are to show appropriate gratitude. To do otherwise would be rude. But the idea doesn’t stop there. God doesn’t ride off into the sunset to await our next summons. We are supposed to thank Him, then stop and pay attention to Him. To recognize that the One who did this good thing is good, kind, loving, compassionate, patient, etc. It’s sort of like the line in Princess Bride when Buttercup calls for the “Farm Boy” to get down a water jug and realizes suddenly that his “As you wish” meant more, and that he was worthy of her attention. This progression is shown in today’s passage, from useful to valued. That’s our challenge. 

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