THERE’S STILL A NEW WORLD TO CELEBRATE WITH THANKSGIVING

In November of 1621, 53 Pilgrims (with 90 Wampanoag Indians present as guests) celebrated with a feast, their God-blessed presence in what was known to them as the “New World.” The event, one year following their arrival on the ship Mayflower, highlighted their appreciation for three things: (1) the place God had given them, (2) the prosperity God had given them, and (3) the prospects God had given them in the New World.

Our hearts should and can swell with Thanksgiving if we think along the same lines as the Pilgrims. We should think of every day as a “New World;” a new place for us to make the most of whatever we have in and at hand while giving as comparatively little thought to the old world of our yesterday’s as the Pilgrims no doubt gave to the Old World they’d left behind.

Secondly, we ought to think, each morning, about the prosperity God has blessed us with. What more do you have in your hand or your head or your heart than you had in the “Old World” of yesterday? Is life any more materially comfortable for you that it used to be? Far more importantly, has your “stock” risen any higher where your spirituality, what you’ve learned, or your ability to love others is concerned? If so, give thanks daily.

The Pilgrim’s were thankful to God for the home He’d given them, for the bountiful first year’s harvest He’d given them, and for the hope-filled future He’d given them as long as they would recognize that He “is the Lord, and there is none else,” that He was worthy of their worship and service, and the Giver of “every good and perfect gift” (Isa. 45:5, 6; 1 Chron. 16:25-29; James 1:17).

We can be thankful as believers that we’ve entered, by virtue of the new birth into a new kingdom and that there’s a New World coming – “a new heaven and a new earth – when Jesus returns (Rev. 21;1-3). But let’s be thankful for the “New World” to which we arrive each and every day that warrants our Thanksgiving.