Daily Devotional

-November 21, 2020-

Good morning, happy Saturday,

-Giving Thanks To God For People-

“I thank God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge.”

(1 Corinthians 1:4-5).

In this week leading up to Thanksgiving Day we are reminded how much we have to be thankful for. Our most precious possession is our salvation. Next we thank God for all our spiritual blessings we have in Christ. In today’s verses we see how thankful we should be for the people in our lives that we love so much.

Paul in his epistles to the churches and to individuals, always began by thanking God for them. The only exception is his epistle to the Galatians, of whom he wrote, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel” Galatians 1:6). He had many issues to straighten out the believers in Corinth on but he did find something to thank God for. He thanked God for His grace to them and their utterance and knowledge they had been enriched with.

Paul loved all the saints in all the churches and he prayed for them incessantly. God has placed many people in our lives: spouses, children, grandchildren, fellow church members, friends, neighbors, co-workers, missionaries, other relatives, and other people. We have relationships with each one and they are a blessing to us. We love them and pray for them. For the unsaved ones, we pray for their salvation; for those who know the Lord, we thank the Lord for them and pray for their spiritual growth in Christ and service for our Savior.

Thus each of us have a sphere of influence that God has given us. Our heart’s desire is to influence and impact others for Christ. To be effective in this role we must be godly examples to them. We can’t expect others to follow Christ if we don’t follow Him. All those around us see what we do and hear what we say. Someone once said, “I would rather see a sermon any day rather than hear one.” In other words we must practice what we preach. Do others see Jesus in you?

So as we reflect on all the things we have to be thankful for, let us remember all the people God has given to us. Paul showed us way to impact those around us and we must do it. We all like to be encouraged and we need to be encouragers as well.

Have a blessed day impacting and encouraging them for Jesus. Stay safe and healthy.

Dean