[Songs in the Night - November 22]
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:20
AS FOR the days of national thanksgiving, we, as
citizens of the heavenly kingdom, have no special need
of them; for every day should be with us a day of
thanksgiving for all things—for the prosperity of our
"holy nation" under the righteous authority of Christ
our King, for its peace and joy and its glorious hope,
for its privileges of spiritual enlightenment and blessing,
for the perfection of its laws and the shaping of
its course and destiny, and for the needed discipline as
well, which is to prepare it for its future exaltation
and glory.
Let the people of the world and less enlightened
Christians give thanks, as doubtless many
of them do, out of a sincere heart, for the common
blessings of this present life—for the air and sunshine
and rain, for bountiful harvests and for seasons of
comparative peace with the nations abroad.
Yes,
blessed be God, out of his abundant mercy these rich
blessings are common to all—to the just and to the
unjust—and it is well that the attention of all men
should be called to mark and consider them....And
while the world thus marks and rejoices in, and in
some cases returns thanks to God for the truly glorious
common blessings which our loving and benevolent
Father showers alike upon the evil and the just, let
our hearts not only rejoice in these things, but also in
the higher spiritual favors bestowed upon the sons of
God, giving thanks always and for all things unto God
the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Z'93-12 R1490:1 (Hymn 324)