In the Old Testament, when the harvest came in, God’s people would bring thank offerings to the temple to express their gratitude for the abundant mercies of God in their lives. In agrarian societies, people lived hand to mouth off the land. Survival depended on a decent harvest year after year, which meant everyone lived in dependence on God for rain, sunshine, and protection from severe weather and pestilence.
In our technological age, it’s easy to feel freed from those concerns. Abundance is a blessing. But we are, nonetheless, utterly dependent on our God for provision. All it takes is for a cloud server to go down or some flooding for us to realize we, too, live in God’s mercies. Everything we have is from His hand. He gave us our minds and bodies, our creativity and passions; so, even though we are an essential part of the work, He is the one undergirding and sustaining it all. Every helping of food on our tables requires years of His preparation for our daily nutrition.
Let us be intentional this year to be thoughtful about our thanksgiving. We live in a world brimming with grace. It’s so lavishly common that we often take it for granted. But this is God‘s abundant faithfulness. We live in His wondrous kindness. So, let’s return gratitude for the One who deserves our praise!
We have an opportunity to do just that with our Thanksgiving Offering: Proclaim! Our gifts will not only express our gratitude to God in a meaningful way, they will also bless the world and advance the mission of God!
For this year’s Thanksgiving Offering, we want to obey Jesus’ command to proclaim the Gospel to the ends of the earth by supporting 14 key ministry partners on the frontlines of Gospel proclamation.
Your gift will provide critical resources for over 1,000 pastors, teachers, and churchplanters who are seeing people come to Christ every day. Our goal is to raise $250,000 to change our world through mission.
So, let’s give generously to express gratitude to our God who is ever faithful! For we are indeed loved, more than we know!
