What is true Thanksgiving?  Is it really just “giving thanks?”  For many this time of year it is an easy time to be thankful.  Many get days off work, family and friends meet for good food and good times.  Christmas is just a month away, which means more good food, games, holidays, family time and gifts.  Even a convicted ingrate should not find it difficult to grunt out some expressions of thankfulness.

Perhaps our best blessings are those we have and hold frequently without any vibrant feelings or special recognition.  This can easily be the case for those of us who know Christ as God and Savior.  If you have been a Christian for more than a year it is easy to become unaffected and unresponsive to the infinite gifts of our generous Father.  Neither your time nor my space will allow to innumerate these bounties with which we are blindly surrounded.

Have you lately expressed gratitude for the peace in your heart, the guiltlessness of your soul, or the incessant presence of your merciful heavenly Father?  How long has it been since you thanked God for the Bibles you are privileged to own?

Have you thought lately about the men and women who gave their lives, sacrificed their families, and endured frigid conditions, prisons, and vicious assaults to provide you and me the copies of Scripture we possess?  William Tyndale sometimes referred to as “the father of the English Bible," was labeled a “heretic” by the Roman Church.  On October 6, 1536 he was strangled to death and burned to cinders for his work in translating the Scriptures into common English for the common man.  We are so enriched by our Lord’s gracious providence.

We here at BBNBI would like to rouse your appreciation for the Scripture we are privileged to study.  This Thanksgiving season please verbalize your thanks to God for His precious Word, the Bible.

True Thanksgiving is more than sentiment or words.  It also includes using your blessings to bless others and provoking others to appreciate the Divine giver.

God put it this way in Hebrews 13:15-16.

“By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.  But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.”

A Blessed Thanksgiving to you and your family from your servants here at BBN.