A Note of Thanks

 

T

he post office can be a place of extreme joy or extreme disappointment, depending upon the contents of your mailbox. When I was in college, the post office was a place of extreme excitement. Around exam time, my parents would send me a care package, usually filled with homemade cookies which I stashed away in my room. I knew that if the other guys on my hall found them, they'd be gone in a flash. Hey, I'm an understanding sort of guy but when it comes to mom's homemade cookies the word share does not compute!!!  

 

As I grew into real life, the post office began to lose its magical allure. Instead of boxes filled with homemade goodies and envelopes with spending money tucked inside, I began receiving statements and bills from various places. The phone company wrote regularly, the power company always seemed to remember me once a month and several businesses delighted in filling my mailbox with reminders of the big sales events they were hosting. Needless to say, going to the post office became less and less appealing. Instead of receiving cookies and treats in the mail, I was sending my hard-earned money to everyone. I began wondering if the mail system had any redeeming value whatsoever. 

 

Then, one day, it happened. My mailbox was unusually full. In fact, the box was completely stuffed! There were the usual bills, some promotional flyers, the ever-popular notification that I had won $1 million dollars, and several survey forms from charitable organizations I had never heard of. That's when I spied a small envelope with my address written on it. It was almost lost in the shuffle of unimportant and mundane pieces of mail. As I inspected the envelope, I noticed it lacked a return address. Understandably, my curiosity was peaked, and I quickly tore it open. Inside was a thank-you note in beautiful handwriting. A very dear friend had written to thank me for doing him a favor a few weeks before. What a breath of fresh air this was in comparison to all the other pieces of "junk" mail littering my mailbox. 

 

Our lives, it seems, resemble the mailbox described in the preceding paragraph. They are crammed full of things that are so very unimportant. Our lives are filled with requests, notices, promises, promotions, and junk. Rarely, if ever, is there room for important things like giving thanks to God for all He has done for us. When we do get around to thanking Him, our gratitude is very small compared to the other, more "important" things taking up room in our lives. 

 

In Leviticus 22:29, God gives a clear indication of the type of thanks He desires from His children. In this passage of Scripture, God says, “And when you offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord, offer it of your own free will." Take a very close look at that requirement again. Thanksgiving must be of our own "free will" if it is to be pleasing and acceptable to God. Thanksgiving which comes from tradition, coercion, or from a sense of obligation is not true thanksgiving. 

 

Yesterday, the United States celebrated its annual Thanksgiving holiday. We set aside this day to officially give thanks to God for the many blessings He has bestowed upon us as a people and as a nation. Millions of people will gather with family and friends around a table filled with traditional foods. Before eating, thanks is given for the year's blessings and everyone sits down to eat. After just a few moments of fellowship, most people abandon the table and head for the nearest television to watch a football game or a movie. We give God a few minutes of thanks in return for His daily blessings and faithfulness to us. Something seems drastically out of balance here, doesn't it? 

 

As long as our thanks to God is dictated by the calendar, the clock, or family tradition, we really aren't thanking Him. The Scripture says we are to do this deliberately of our own free will. Thanksgiving is not something that we do; rather, it is something that we are. Thanksgiving is an attitude, a fundamental part of our character. Our lives must reflect thanksgiving to God on a daily basis, not when it's convenient or politically correct to do so.  

 

The thank-you note I found in my mailbox that day was very special to me. My friend didn't have to send it to me; he wanted to. Of his own free will, he went out, selected a card, thought about the message, inscribed it on the card, sealed the envelope, addressed it, and went to the post office to mail it. It required time and effort on his part as well as a real willingness to do it. That made the card all the more special to me.  

Should it be any different with God? When we were lost in sin, God gave us His best. Of His own free will He gave us Jesus so that we could be reconciled to Him. This gift was not something God just whipped up in an instant. Instead, He planned it out before the foundation of the world was laid. Think about that. Before God created all that is, He planned and made provision for us to be eternally with Him. Don't you think that requires more than just a quick prayer over a meal? Don't you believe it demands more than just a fleeting thought? What it requires, what God wants, is for us to give ourselves to Him willingly and totally as the ultimate expression of our thanks. When was the last time you sent God a real thank-you note? Why don't you do so today!!