Gratitude for the prospect of a Republic's glorious redemption. The post Trump and Thanksgiving appeared first on Frontpage Mag.

One way the Pilgrims showed thankfulness was by being generous with the Native Americans, sharing their faith, time, and harvest with them. Like them, we can stir up Thanksgiving gratefulness around us, too, by being generous.

Luke 17:11–19 tells the story of 10 lepers calling to Jesus for healing, but only one returns to give thanks. Around Thanksgiving, this passage is often treated as a moralistic lesson: “You need to be more grateful.” But do we need the Bible to tell us that? It isn’t a groundbreaking idea. Scientific studies tell us a grateful person is a happier person. TED Talks and Oprah are full of this stuff. Is this really the primary message Luke gives us here? When we look closer, this passage acknowledges the moral imperative to be grateful but it positively envelopes us with the person of Jesus Christ. It shows us that biblical thanksgiving goes beyond gratitude because it goes beyond the gift. It leads us to surrender ourselves to the Giver. Gratitude vs. Thanksgiving Gratitude, in its simplest form, is a feeling that only becomes thanksgiving when expressed. By itself, gratitude remains an internal experience. We find this distinction illustrated in Luke 17. Biblical thanksgiving goes beyond gratitude because it goes beyond the gift. It leads us to surrender ourselves to the Giver. As Jesus enters the village, the lepers cry out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” They call from a distance because, as lepers, they’re not allowed to mingle with society. Luke wants us to see their desperation. What’s striking is that they call Jesus “Master.” The only other people in Luke’s Gospel who refer to Jesus this way are his disciples. This tells us the lepers believed in Jesus’s power. When they cried out, Jesus didn’t heal them on the spot—though he could have. Instead, he told them to show themselves to the priests. Then, as they went, they were healed. For nine of the lepers, that’s where the story ends. They were healed physically, and they likely went to the priests to be declared clean so they could rejoin society. They probably felt grateful—who wouldn’t? But their gratitude didn’t translate into expressing thanks. More than the Gift The nine lepers didn’t lack gratitude. But they didn’t see the excellence of their Healer. They found richer satisfaction in the gift than in the One who gave it. This isn’t just a nine-leper problem; it can be a Christian problem. Lifeway Research asked 1,200 Americans what they were most grateful for. The number one answer was family, followed by health and friends. The researchers didn’t even include God, or Jesus, among the options. When the same Americans were asked whom they typically give thanks to, family topped the list again, and God came a close second. This survey highlights what should be a major concern for Christians: We can be more grateful to God for what we have in this world than for what he provides in himself. Could this mean we primarily define God by our comforts and securities, rather than worshiping him as he’s revealed through Scripture? True Thanksgiving Is About the Giver We see true thanksgiving when the leper returns to the One who healed him. He doesn’t merely feel grateful for his healing; he turns back to Jesus, falls at his feet, and gives thanks. The Greek word for “thanksgiving” in Luke 17 is eucharistéō, which means more than saying “thank you.” It describes active, grateful worship toward God. Luke paints the scene vividly, describing the leper becoming less as he falls prostrate and Jesus becoming more as he stands above the man, looking over him with beautiful compassion. Jesus then says, “Your faith has made you well.” The other nine got their physical healing. But only this leper experienced the fullness of salvation, the deeper healing that comes from knowing Jesus by faith. Thanksgiving in All Circumstances The biblical narrative teaches us to build our thanksgiving on faith in God. This kind of thanksgiving goes beyond personal circumstances (Eph. 5:20; 1 Thess. 5:18). It gives thanks in all things. But how do we give thanks when life is hard, when we feel God has abandoned us? In Till We Have Faces, Lewis wrote, “I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are yourself the answer. Before your face, questions die away. What other answer would suffice?” This is the one leper’s realization. He sees that Jesus doesn’t just heal his body or give him something else he wants. Jesus, our hope and salvation, gives us himself. When we recognize this truth and how its sufficiency works in our lives, thanksgiving is no longer about the gifts we receive but about the Giver himself. Thanksgiving Means Surrender Jesus ultimately brings the leper to himself. The leper’s thanksgiving shows that he’d submitted to Christ as his Lord. That’s how we must come to Christ too. Paul writes, “As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving” (Col. 2:6–7). Thanksgiving is no longer about the gifts we receive but about the Giver himself. When we surrender to Christ himself, the Spirit cultivates in us a deep love for the Savior. Even when we lack temporal gifts, he helps us submit to Christ’s lordship and to whatever he chooses to provide. Even amid trials and suffering, the Spirit reminds us how Christ suffered for us by submitting to the Father in obedience unto death (Phil. 2:6–9). Let’s remember these truths and surrender to Christ’s person and lordship in every circumstance. Then we’ll find that our life is made beautiful by his faithfulness and loving embrace. We’ll be truly thankful because true thanksgiving is rooted in the gospel. It’s an expression of faith that God is good, that what he chooses is best, and that the truly good life is found only in him.

A late Bronze Age (ca. 950–780/740 B.C.) hoard of national importance found near Gryfino in Poland’s West Pomeranian Voivodeship has been rescued by authorities after it was illegally excavated. Anonymous individuals sent pictures of the objects to each other before they were emailed to the Provincial Conservator of Monuments in Szczecin who then called the police. The police tracked down the people trading the pictures and while they denied being the looters, they did know that the objects had been hidden near the headquarters of the Gryfino Region History Enthusiasts Society. The association then handed over the treasure to the Provincial Office for the Protection of Monuments in Szczecin. The hoard contains more than 100 objects, 73 of them remarkably large. It includes more than 30 bronze neck rings, weapons, shield bosses, jewelry, phalerae (metal discs) from horse harnesses, silver spikes, the handle of a vessel, sickles and spearheads. Three of the objects are of national importance, unique on the archaeological record of Poland: a brooch made of circular hoops with decorated sheet-metal domes, a long pin and the axe which were not locally made and came to Gryfino from southcentral Europe, probably the Alpine region. The axe socket contains remnants of wood from the haft, which will give archaeologists the opportunity to radiocarbon date the axe head and determine what kind of wood it was mounted to. The finder or finders used a metal detector but Polish law regulates their use to prevent exactly this kind of shenanigan, and the looters obviously did not have the necessary permits to conduct a metal detector search. That in itself is an indictable offense, but to add insult to injury, it’s clear from the photographs that they destroyed at least one clay container in which the treasure had been buried 3,000 or so years ago and ran roughshod over the archaeological context, acts punishably by a term of up to eight years in prison. Authorities have appealed to the looter/s to right the wrong they’ve done by telling archaeologists the precise location of the find so they can investigate it. They want to know if there was just one pot containing the hoard, of it was a cinerary urn with the objects as grave goods. If the objects were funerary furnishings, there could be more of them, and there could be neighboring graves. It’s essential that the context of the find be professionally explored to answer questions about this highly significant find. The hoard is currently at the National Museum in Szczecin where it will be studied further and conserved. After initial research is completed, the objects will be exhibited at the museum.

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