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Deuteronomy 8:7-18
As Americans we have inherited a beautiful land, a promised land. As we travel around our country in the summertime we realize just what a grand inheritance we have received. We have also been a destructive people. We have not taken care of this rich and gorgeous land. We constantly engage in a battle to preserve the environment. We can be grateful for the men and women through the years who have had the vision to create and preserve our national park system that protects our country's wilderness areas from development.
In one sense our nation is a promised land, but in another sense it is a "not yet" promised land. Fortunately, in every generation we have had special people call our attention to the biblical admonition: "Take care that you do not forget the Lord your God…"
Jacques Maritain once wrote: Americans seem to be in their own land as pilgrims, prodded by a dream. They are always on the move -- available for new tasks, prepared for the possible loss of what they have. They are not settled, installed…"
Richard H.
Deuteronomy 8:7-18
When reading this passage, it is saddening how much it parallels our own history. When the Pilgrims first came to America, they faced a harsh winter climate and the people began to suffer from starvation and exposure. It wasn't until they started forming relationships with the natives that they began to find ways to survive their new environment. That scene of fellowship is often the backdrop for this holiday.
While the relationship between the pilgrims and the natives stayed amicable, as far as I can tell, for that generation, natives soon found themselves facing oppression from their new European neighbors, culminating in events like the infamous Trail of Tears. These natives, some of whom had extended their hands in friendship and service, were soon treated like outsiders.
I have no intention of comparing God with Native Americans but the principle of receiving outside help and then forsaking all ties with the one who gave the help is seen here: "Lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them... you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery" (vv. 12, 14).
Craig K.
2 Corinthians 9:6-15
Before the missionary Hudson Taylor made his famous first trip to China, he was a struggling medical student and evangelist living on very little, stretched further by his faithful tithing. After an evening prayer service Hudson led, a poor man asked him to come back to his house and pray for his dying wife; though they were Catholic, they could not afford a priest to give last rites. Praying there, Hudson suddenly felt convicted of the poverty he saw and the coin in his own pocket. Resisting several times, remembering only his own need of it, he finally relented when the man at last broke and pleaded for any help Hudson could offer. It was the last half-crown Hudson had to live on but the next day he received an envelope with indecipherable writing and blurred postage. Inside was a half-sovereign -- four times what he had given twelve hours before.
Brian H.
2 Corinthians 9:6-15
Not too long ago, the company Liberty Mutual put out an interesting series of commercials. The commercial showed someone doing something kind for another person -- helping someone with their groceries, grabbing a child's balloon before it floated away. Each shot of the act of kindness showed a third person as witness to the act -- and the next segment of the commercial showed the observer doing something kind, passing it on. Each commercial showed a chain of three or four kind deeds "paid forward." The commercials are especially interesting because they go beyond the idea of paying forward something good done to you; instead, they celebrate the good deeds that others do and that we can use as an example in our own lives.
Leah T.
2 Corinthians 9:6-15
In George Washington's day, there were no cameras. One's image was either sculpted or painted. Some paintings of George Washington showed him standing behind a desk with one arm behind his back while others showed both legs and both arms. Prices charged by painters were not based on how many people were to be painted but by how many limbs were to be painted, as these were more difficult to put on canvas than faces. Arms and legs are "limbs," therefore painting them would cost the buyer more. Hence the expression, "Okay, but it'll cost you an arm and a leg."
Paul writes that we are to be a "cheerful giver." Figuratively this means that we do not stand behind a desk, hiding our limbs and protecting our pocketbooks. Instead, we stand front and center, fully exposed, a gesture that we are willing to give generously for the privilege of being seen as a contributing member of Christ's church.
Ron L.
Luke 17:11-19
I heard of a bishop who preached at the chapel at Yale University. He took as his outline the four letters: Y.A.L.E. He held forth for ten minutes on Y for "Youth." The audience was unimpressed. He went on seventeen minutes about A for "Ambition." By now the congregation was asleep. Undaunted, he preached four minutes more on L for "Loyalty," winding up with three minutes with E for "Energy."
At the close of the service, the bishop followed the choir in recession down the aisle and found a student in the last row still kneeling in prayer. The bishop leaned over and said, "Perhaps you would be good enough to tell me what I said that moved you so deeply."
The young man answered, "I was just offering a prayer of thanksgiving that I go to Yale and not to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology."
If we look hard enough, we can always find something for which to be grateful. The ten lepers in this biblical story had much for which to give thanks.
Richard H.
Luke 17:11-19
One may not think that ingratitude is a problem in our society but consider this: I have worked with several inner-city children over the last few years and what do you think is the hardest concept for them to grasp? "Please" and "Thank you."
Thankfulness is simply not being passed down to the next generation in many parts of our society. Also, my wife used to work in the food service industry and there were many times when she would wait on a table of six or more people and only get a fifty-cent tip total.
Gratitude is near and dear to the heart of Christ, as seen in this passage: "Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" (v. 18).
Craig K.
As Americans we have inherited a beautiful land, a promised land. As we travel around our country in the summertime we realize just what a grand inheritance we have received. We have also been a destructive people. We have not taken care of this rich and gorgeous land. We constantly engage in a battle to preserve the environment. We can be grateful for the men and women through the years who have had the vision to create and preserve our national park system that protects our country's wilderness areas from development.
In one sense our nation is a promised land, but in another sense it is a "not yet" promised land. Fortunately, in every generation we have had special people call our attention to the biblical admonition: "Take care that you do not forget the Lord your God…"
Jacques Maritain once wrote: Americans seem to be in their own land as pilgrims, prodded by a dream. They are always on the move -- available for new tasks, prepared for the possible loss of what they have. They are not settled, installed…"
Richard H.
Deuteronomy 8:7-18
When reading this passage, it is saddening how much it parallels our own history. When the Pilgrims first came to America, they faced a harsh winter climate and the people began to suffer from starvation and exposure. It wasn't until they started forming relationships with the natives that they began to find ways to survive their new environment. That scene of fellowship is often the backdrop for this holiday.
While the relationship between the pilgrims and the natives stayed amicable, as far as I can tell, for that generation, natives soon found themselves facing oppression from their new European neighbors, culminating in events like the infamous Trail of Tears. These natives, some of whom had extended their hands in friendship and service, were soon treated like outsiders.
I have no intention of comparing God with Native Americans but the principle of receiving outside help and then forsaking all ties with the one who gave the help is seen here: "Lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them... you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery" (vv. 12, 14).
Craig K.
2 Corinthians 9:6-15
Before the missionary Hudson Taylor made his famous first trip to China, he was a struggling medical student and evangelist living on very little, stretched further by his faithful tithing. After an evening prayer service Hudson led, a poor man asked him to come back to his house and pray for his dying wife; though they were Catholic, they could not afford a priest to give last rites. Praying there, Hudson suddenly felt convicted of the poverty he saw and the coin in his own pocket. Resisting several times, remembering only his own need of it, he finally relented when the man at last broke and pleaded for any help Hudson could offer. It was the last half-crown Hudson had to live on but the next day he received an envelope with indecipherable writing and blurred postage. Inside was a half-sovereign -- four times what he had given twelve hours before.
Brian H.
2 Corinthians 9:6-15
Not too long ago, the company Liberty Mutual put out an interesting series of commercials. The commercial showed someone doing something kind for another person -- helping someone with their groceries, grabbing a child's balloon before it floated away. Each shot of the act of kindness showed a third person as witness to the act -- and the next segment of the commercial showed the observer doing something kind, passing it on. Each commercial showed a chain of three or four kind deeds "paid forward." The commercials are especially interesting because they go beyond the idea of paying forward something good done to you; instead, they celebrate the good deeds that others do and that we can use as an example in our own lives.
Leah T.
2 Corinthians 9:6-15
In George Washington's day, there were no cameras. One's image was either sculpted or painted. Some paintings of George Washington showed him standing behind a desk with one arm behind his back while others showed both legs and both arms. Prices charged by painters were not based on how many people were to be painted but by how many limbs were to be painted, as these were more difficult to put on canvas than faces. Arms and legs are "limbs," therefore painting them would cost the buyer more. Hence the expression, "Okay, but it'll cost you an arm and a leg."
Paul writes that we are to be a "cheerful giver." Figuratively this means that we do not stand behind a desk, hiding our limbs and protecting our pocketbooks. Instead, we stand front and center, fully exposed, a gesture that we are willing to give generously for the privilege of being seen as a contributing member of Christ's church.
Ron L.
Luke 17:11-19
I heard of a bishop who preached at the chapel at Yale University. He took as his outline the four letters: Y.A.L.E. He held forth for ten minutes on Y for "Youth." The audience was unimpressed. He went on seventeen minutes about A for "Ambition." By now the congregation was asleep. Undaunted, he preached four minutes more on L for "Loyalty," winding up with three minutes with E for "Energy."
At the close of the service, the bishop followed the choir in recession down the aisle and found a student in the last row still kneeling in prayer. The bishop leaned over and said, "Perhaps you would be good enough to tell me what I said that moved you so deeply."
The young man answered, "I was just offering a prayer of thanksgiving that I go to Yale and not to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology."
If we look hard enough, we can always find something for which to be grateful. The ten lepers in this biblical story had much for which to give thanks.
Richard H.
Luke 17:11-19
One may not think that ingratitude is a problem in our society but consider this: I have worked with several inner-city children over the last few years and what do you think is the hardest concept for them to grasp? "Please" and "Thank you."
Thankfulness is simply not being passed down to the next generation in many parts of our society. Also, my wife used to work in the food service industry and there were many times when she would wait on a table of six or more people and only get a fifty-cent tip total.
Gratitude is near and dear to the heart of Christ, as seen in this passage: "Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" (v. 18).
Craig K.
