“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” – 1 John 2:15

Consider this a biblical wake up call on Cyber Monday! No matter how good that deal or how great that new piece of technology is, it won’t be nearly as fulfilling and satisfying as you imagine. So don’t spend a lot of time and energy imagining it! This world offers many good things for us to enjoy and use for God’s glory. However, we need to get our relationship with the world and the things of the world right or they will prevent us from fully loving God and experiencing His love!

This passage isn’t telling us to hate the world, be disengaged from it, or fail to take care of it. As Christians, we are to care for this world as the stewards God made us to be. We’ve been given the world to manage on God’s behalf and haven’t done a particularly good job. We need to manage it well politically, environmentally, and economically, but all that’s a topic for another day.

Good stewardship is far different from obsessive love for the world or its goodies. Unfortunately, it’s too easy to fall into the latter. Much of the anger experienced by Christians this year flows from loving the world and its things like political power, influence, wealth, and social status far too much. As Christians, we have a stewardship responsibility, but we’ve got to dial back the emotional attachment to this world and its systems!

We can’t love God if we love anything else more than God. Our love must be for God. First and foremost. At all times. Our emotional extremes (extreme joy, fear, anger, anxiety, etc.) reveal where our love really is. We can’t love God and obsess over the world. We simply can’t. We must choose to love God each and every day. We must love God more than toys and tech. We must love God more than wealth, retirement funds, and status. We must love God more than political influence and power. We must love God more than comfort and health. We must love God more than we love the earth and the beautiful things in it. Who or what do you love?

“If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” – Daniel 3:17-18

We must never compromise our faithful obedience to God, no matter the pressure or threats that face us. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were threatened with fiery death if they wouldn’t bow down and worship the king’s statue. These words were their response.

While they were completely confident that God was capable of saving them from death and thwarting the king’s will, they also understand that He might not choose to do that. Nonetheless, they weren’t going to compromise their faith and integrity to protect themselves. They were at peace with doing the right thing to glorify and obey God, no matter the consequences to themselves.

As we follow Jesus, we must admit that there are aspects of doing so which are increasingly out of step with the prevailing views of our culture. That will likely continue to increase and the cost of that is likely to become significant – after all the prevailing culture of the day killed Jesus. As followers of Jesus, now is the time to commit to follow Him regardless of cost or consequence.

We must never bow to kings or to culture. We mustn’t be squishy about believing the Bible. Let us consider it an honor to follow Jesus into the fiery furnace, regardless of whether or not He chooses to rescue us from it.

“His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” – 2 Peter 1:3

This probably isn’t the Thanksgiving you imagined at the start of the year. This probably isn’t the Thanksgiving you planned even a couple of months ago. This year has tested us, stretched us, isolated us, frustrated us, hurt us, and divided us. But we still have many things to be thankful for!

This year has clarified what’s truly important. It’s clarified what can’t be taken away by circumstances, situations, crises, and governments. It’s made clear how precious it is that in Christ God has already given us everything we need for the eternal life we already enjoy.

Give thanks for God’s glorious, overflowing, undeserved grace in revealing Himself to us. He didn’t have to make Himself known, but He did. Give thanks for God’s grace in saving us by sending His own beloved Son, Jesus, to suffer and die for our sins. Give thanks for God’s grace in inviting us to believe in Jesus and receive forgiveness for every sin, no matter how terrible, and eternal life in Christ. Give thanks that God has given and preserved the Bible to teach us about Himself and Jesus, how to truly follow Jesus, and how to live our lives and navigate this ever-changing world.

Give thanks for God’s goodness and generosity that we don’t have to pay for these blessings, we don’t have to earn them, we don’t have to deserve them, but that God gives them out of His love, kindness, and mercy. Give thanks that in Christ, we are united with God, one with Him, filled with His Holy Spirit, comforted by Him, strengthened by Him, challenged by Him, transformed by Him, and deeply loved by Him. Give thanks for the many wonderful things in your life that can never, ever be taken away!

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” – 1 Peter 5:6-7

God cares for you! Could there be anything more wonderful to be thankful for than this in this messed up, painful, discouraging, frightening, lonely, and confusing year? As you reflect on those things for which you are thankful, move this to the top of the list: the Almighty Creator of the Universe cares for you personally!

God loves you. If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then God has adopted you as His own precious son or daughter. He loves you deeply. He hears your cries, your sorrows, your triumphs, your agonies, and your frustrations. He understands your pain and your fears. He invites you to literally toss every anxiety of your heart and mind at Him in prayer so that you may enjoy peace and rest deep within your soul.

So this Thanksgiving, it’s OK to laugh and it’s OK to cry. It’s OK to acknowledge it’s been a rough, tough, rotten year and that you’ve never felt less in control. Rather than letting that ruin your Thanksgiving, let it humble you before your loving Heavenly Father. Give thanks that while you are weak, He is strong, that while you feel lost at times, God is firmly, wisely, and wonderfully in control. Give thanks as you’ve never done before because God cares for you and every detail of your life!

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.” – 1 Peter 4:12-13

Well, we can’t say that we weren’t warned!!! Fiery trials are an expected part of the Christian life. There’s nothing enjoyable about them, but they are normal. Hard times will come upon us as we walk in faith. We shouldn’t seek them out, but we should know they will find us anyway. This makes complete sense – our Lord Jesus went through terrible trials. Why should His followers be exempt?

Scripture is consistent in teaching that we shouldn’t just grit our teeth, complain, and trudge through trials when they come. No, we’re told over and over again to rejoice during them! We are to rejoice during terrible tests of our faith and our faithfulness. We aren’t to rejoice because we like pain or because we’re supposed to pretend the trials don’t hurt. These trials hurt terribly!

We are to rejoice precisely because they hurt so bad! We are to rejoice because in the fiery trials we share in the sufferings of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus endured every temptation and suffered terribly as He was betrayed, arrested, abandoned, humiliated, tortured, condemned, and brutally killed. Jesus suffered terribly as He endured God’s rightful wrath toward our sin on the cross.

As we suffer in Christ, we share in Christ’s suffering and it reminds us that we will also share in His glory. We will share in His resurrection. We will share in His eternal presence. We will share in His inheritance in heaven and the new earth. The fiery trials of our lives, when experienced in Christ, point us to the eternal joy, comfort, peace, and delight that lies ahead of everyone who believes in Jesus. Rejoice!