Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is a wonderful, blessed time of the year. We think of it as an American holiday and so we should. But as Christians it should be something we do regularly. The word "thanksgiving" is used eight times in the New Testament alone. Paul tells us repeatedly that we should give thanks to God. In his letter to the Phillipians he says "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." (4:6,NIV). What does thanksgiving mean. I know it means giving thanks, but lets look at the Greek for a moment. The word for thanksgiving is eucharistos. Charistos means grace. Eu is a small prefix that can mean 'good' or as Low and Nida define it as 'excellent', in the science community it can means 'true, or perfect'. Thanksgiving then in short is excellent grace or true grace. As Paul might explain further, it is the result of our receiving excellent Grace. God sheds his love and grace upon us and it results in our giving praise and thanks to God. Our ability to praise God and give thanks is a result of God's grace towards us. Another advantage point to help understand this term is to recognize that the liturgical name given to the Lord's Supper is the Eucharist, excellent grace. We celebrate the eucharist regularly. What then are Christians celebrating world wide? It is thanksgiving, given through the blood and body of our Lord and Savior. The proof is in the pudding or the communion. After I take communion my heart is filled with his grace which causes me to give thanks, excellent thanks, true thanks, thanksgiving in the truest form to our Father. Isn't it great, that as Christians we can do this year around! Happy Eucharist.

Hear O students

When called upon to listen, my students often reply that they were hearing. But over the years I have discovered that though they were hearing they were not always listening. In the Greek, as well as the Hebrew and other semitic languages like Akkadian the word for listening is the same word for obeying. "To hear is to obey" is an old saying that I am learning says more than at first pass. The Greek word akouw, Heberw shema and the Akkadian semnum are all verbs of listening and obeying. The shema, "Hear O Israel the Lord you God is One" is saying more than that Israel should hear. Israel was hearing but not listening. They did not internalize what God was saying so they could be obedient to the one God. Moses complained about their obedience and so did God. Jesus complained about people who hear but do not listen (Matt.13:13).

How can we not become like the people Christ was referring to? Maybe you can develop an ear for hearing. God says in his word that faith comes by hearing and hearing by a word from God (Rom. 10:17). Hearing is created by a word from God! This is the hearing that elicits obedience. This is what I need in my class room! Sitting under the anointed apostolic word creates the ear for hearing. Not just hearing. But the kind of hearing that means obedience to the word. Hearing and obedience go hand in hand. A child has not heard until he is obedient. No wonder my mother repeatedly ask me "are you listening?". Obedience develops the ear for hearing. Maybe this is why Samuel heard the voice of the Lord, he was obediently serving the Lord at Shiloh. When the Lord spoke, Samuel heard. As we serve the Lord we develop our hearing. Do you want to learn the voice of the Lord? Then learn to listen until the obedience to what the one is speaking is felt. "The sheep hear His voice."