Happy Thanksgiving From The Peculiar Treasure!

Happy Thanksgiving, you wonderful people! I know you are ready for your turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce- and I don't blame you. But before you shut you laptop and head for the table, I wanted to encourage us all to truly live a full life of thanksgiving, not just this one day a year.

Earlier this week, I was reading She Reads Truth. The series was about giving thanks to God, and the particular post was about God winning the victory (read it here).The text for the post was Psalm 98.

Oh sing to the Lord a new song,

    for he has done marvelous things!

His right hand and his holy arm

    have worked salvation for him.

 The Lord has made known his salvation;

    he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.

 He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness

    to the house of Israel.

 All the ends of the earth have seen

    the salvation of our God.

 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;

    break forth into joyous song and sing praises!

 Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,

    with the lyre and the sound of melody!

 With trumpets and the sound of the horn

    make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord!

 Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;

    the world and those who dwell in it!

 Let the rivers clap their hands;

    let the hills sing for joy together

 before the Lord, for he comes

    to judge the earth.

He will judge the world with righteousness,

    and the peoples with equity.

When I read those verses and then started thinking about the study questions, I realized something: these people are joyous about the victory God has given and they truly know the way to share it with the world. That is why they are singing. And though I don't need to carry a harp around everywhere I go (thank God!), I do need to show my thanks to God outwardly.

What good is it to have victory, if no one can see the joy in my life? If we walk around depressed, angry, anxious, or fill-in-the-blank, we are not portraying any sort of victory to the world. In fact, we are making the great hope of Jesus into something that is less than desirable. I'm not declaring that we should be fake or pretend we have no problems. Rather, I am declaring that despite our struggles, we choose joy and we live it out. 

So on this Thanksgiving- better yet, every single day- give thanks to the Lord for His victory by living a joyful, thankful life. Show the world what we have through the praise of our lips and the joy in our actions.

Give thanks to the Lord. His love endures forever!