Be Thankful for Worship

Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men. - -Ps 107:31

Thanksgiving Day is a time when people often take a little time to "count their blessings". Certainly we realize, as Christians, that God's blessing to us are new every day and so should be our thankfulness. But let us engage, for a few moments, in counting our blessings, as we approach another Thanksgiving Day, stop at one blessing that we often take for granted - that of worship.

As we thinking of those blessings, do the words of the psalm writer come to our minds: I rejoiced with those who said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD." (Ps 122:1)? Does the thought of going to the house of God fill us with joy, so that we thank the Lord for the opportunity? This is not because of the preacher, but often times may be "in spite of" the preacher. The thankfulness comes because of the other blessings we have in worship.

In worship, we have the opportunity to answer the invitation Jesus extends to us: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. (Mt 11:28) Coming to church is a time to find rest - beyond the nap during the sermon. The rest comes when we unload the weight of our sins through confession and hear the good news that our sins have been forgiven for Jesus sake. The burdens of guilt and fear are removed and replaced with the joy of salvation and the good news of God's love in Jesus Christ.

When we come to worship, we not only go to God's house. He comes and dwells in us. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. (Col 3:16) Through the readings, the hymns and the sermon, the Word of the Savior dwells in us. We learn from the saving truths. We are encouraged and instructed in how our Lord wants us to live. We are filled with even more reasons to be thankful.

When we come to the house of the Lord for worship, we do it not just for ourselves, but we do it for our fellow believers too. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Heb 10:25) It is encouraging to know that we are not alone in what we believe and in what we do to thank and serve the Savior. We draw this from those who worship with us and we give this those around us too.

The act of and opportunity to worship is one off the many things for which we can and ought to be thankful. The best way to show that thankfulness is to do it - go to the house of the Lord. Sing thee hymns of praise. Listen to the preaching and teaching of the Word. Pray in Jesus' holy name. We will not only be thanking our loving God for one of His blessings, but we will be drawing from those blessings too!