May 1

Thanks-Living During the Swine Flu

Our last Psalm today is Psalm 100. It is called a psalm for giving thanks. This is a psalm for you since it is a psalm for the entire earth. It is a psalm that contains yesterday’s antidote to stagnant Christian living, a life full of worship and praise. It also presents us another cure from stagnation, a life of Thanks-living. Living each day with a thankful and grateful heart.

Every day now we hear of one more reason to live in fear: the swine flu, global warming, economic depression,
Unemployment, stagflation, Korea and Iran have nuclear bombs, Al-Qaeda has sleeper cells in the USA, Socialism is overtaking the land, pollution from all the pampers will kill us, the ozone layer is disappearing, over population, under population, the death of Christianity is on the horizon and the list goes on and on.

All of this negativity does have an impact on me. There are days that I just can’t turn on CNN ... Continual Negative News. It is very easy to be overwhelmed by this negativity and lose perspective in life.

Psalm 100 gives us several reasons to have an attitude of gratitude, even during the swine flu. This list included the fact that the Lord is God, he created us, he redeemed us, he cares and loves us, he is a good God and finally his faithfulness is eternal. All of these reasons have their origin in God and not the circumstances of our planet.

So what is our response to these incredible blessings? Nothing less than thanks-living is demanded. There is something wrong with our theology when doesn't lead thank-ology. The greatest tragedy that will occur on May 1, 2009 is that all over this land, a land blessed by God, people will go through the entire day only focused on the negative and never stopping and saying thank you to God for the good we have experienced. Maybe you think you don’t have anything to be thankful for. Let me tell you a story.

In 1636 during the 30 years War – it was one of the worst wars in the history of mankind in terms of the sheer number of deaths. On top of that, the plague killed thousands of people in Europe. In the city of Eilenburg, Germany there was a godly pastor whose name was Martin Rinckert. In a single year he buried 5,000 people from his community. That averages out to 15 people a day. Can you imagine the headlines of CNN during this period of time? What would be the response of Martin to a life filled with so much tragedy? If you look in a hymnal you will find a song written by him. It was a prayer that he wrote for his children, to teach them how to live a thankful life. Here are the words:

Now thank we all our God,
With hearts and hands and voices.
Who wondrous things has done,
In whom his world rejoices.

I don’t know about you but if I’d spent the year holding 5000 funerals of people, I am not sure I could have written that song for my children. It's an unusual thing that in history many who have the least to thank God about thank him the most. And many people who have the most to be thankful never express their gratitude.

Begin a life of thanks living today. Thank God for three blessings in your life right now.