ReThink Thanks

We started our November series this week called "ReThink Thanks". With God at the center of all of our thankfulness we will see that all thanks results in worship of a holy God.

Here are some thoughts from the talk:

"All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves."
Blaise Pascal

We must ReThink what it means to seek comfort.
Many people view their comfort as some sort of ultimate end in life. That the goal of life is merely to be comfortable.

People who spend their lives seeking just to be comfortable end up making an idol to complacency and apathy.

Their goal ends up being to avoid the most amout of pain or challenge as possible.

People who worship their comfort end up worshiping God to the extent of his usefulness to bring them comfort. I'm amazed at how many people in the "church" worship comfort and even use faith as a tool to that end.

Many people praise God when he acheives the ends they've set out for Him (comfort) and then question Him when his usefulness is in doubt (when they're uncomfortable). So worship of a holy God is dependant on how their first-worship priority is going... worship of comfort.

Have you ever listened to praise and prayer requests? Many praises are simply praises of restoration of comfort. "Thank God I'm made comfortable again." With this mentality is it any wonder our faith becomes fragile?

Heaven is not on earth and we're never asked by God to merely pursue comfort at any expense.

The idol of comfort brings about a life that is anything but glorifying to God... a dry, boring, passionless, pointless existence. A life that ultimately balances out to have amounted for nothing in the advancement of the Kingdom of God.

At best this mindset leads to a life that is a zero-sum game (neither helping or hurting Christianity) and at worst this life leads to a negative sum game (hurting the cause of Christ).

Complacency and comfort aren't goals. We are to be like Paul, thankful in everything... the good, bad and the ugly. We will thank Him and worship Him not merely for the perceived 'comfort' we have in this life but rather simply for knowing Him and seeing His Glory.