"If It Had Not Been For Jesus"
Thanksgiving 2014
Recently, I have been thinking of various things for which I am thankful. My life seems pretty routine, average and rather unspectacular. I just haven't had any major, earth-shaking events happen in my life. Seemingly, I was put in a good family with good parents. God has provided for all my needs and many of my desires. He gave me New Life when I was a teenager, so I don't have any unusual stories to tell about how I came to Christ.
Over the years, as I have traveled in various parts of the world, I have come to appreciate more deeply those "ordinary" items on my Thanksgiving list. After being in countries where people have to beg and scrape for what they need, I come home and thank God for my life and my family. In fact, I've come to realize that if Christ does nothing more than redeem me, He's already done far more than I deserve.
During this Thanksgiving season, however, I've added another category to my list of things for which I am grateful. It's the category of being thankful to God for sparing me from what might have been.
Someone has said that God stood as the sovereign sentinel at the gate of Job's life, letting in only what could be used for good, and that God also keeps many things out of my life every day. Perhaps they are things that I don't see and may never know about. When I lay my head on the pillow each night, I can thank God for keeping out those things that would destroy me.
As this idea unfolded in my heart and mind, I thought about what my life might be like today if it weren't for the fact that Christ transformed me. One songwriter said, "Where would I be if it had not been for Jesus?"
I'm a rather compulsive, spontaneous person and I could easily be an addict, chained to drugs or alcohol or many other compulsions. Perhaps my self-centeredness would have led me down the path of broken relationships and loss of fulfillment. Where might I be had it not been for the Holy Spirit's control in my life?
What about my marriage? Would I still be in love with the beautiful woman I have shared the last 47 years with? What might I have done to my children, had it not been for Jesus who is filling my life with His love, enabling me to love others, in some measure, the way that He has loved me? My selfishness might have made me estranged from sweet and beautiful grandchildren.
Where might my greed or lust have taken me? Down what kind of dead-end streets, with shame and despair as the ultimate reward of trying to please base passions?
This year at Thanksgiving my heart is gripped with a fresh sense of gratitude to God. I want this special time of year to linger, because it has become so important to me. I'm learning a new dimension to giving thanks in everything. Thank you Lord for sparing me from what might have been.
If it had not been for Jesus, there would be no story of Thanksgiving to tell.
