Speak Up This Thanksgiving

Thursday, November 28, 2013   Speak Up This Thanksgiving

Three years ago Cheryl and I spent the week before Thanksgiving in Israel enjoying many of the sites of our Christian heritage.. This year we were in Colonial Williamsburg enjoying many of the sites of our heritage as Americans. My response to our recent trip to Virginia is strikingly similar to my response to our travels in the Holy Land.

In the season of Thanksgiving in 2010, I was very thankful that Cheryl and I had the opportunity to experience the Holy Land. Over and over again, I was impressed that our Christian heritage is paved with the deep personal commitment and sacrifices of that great cloud of witnesses who surround us. (Hebrews 12:1) I was also very thankful to be a part of Christ Church where each week I got to proclaim the Gospel message and to celebrate Jesus.

This year my plate overflows with blessings from God. I thank God for bringing both Cheryl and me through our medical issues at the beginning of this year and for the many opportunities we have enjoyed traveling and visiting our family in the second half of this year. I am also very thankful for the opportunities I continue to have to proclaim the Good News that we have been raised to new life in Christ Jesus. On our trip to historic Virginia, I was also very impressed that our heritage as Americans is paved with the deep personal commitment and sacrifices of countless men and women who responded to a higher calling in life than simple self-gratification.

As I take the time during this Thanksgiving holiday to ponder our heritage, I recall something I read in 2010 in Israel at Yad Vashem, The Holocaust Museum. Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) reflecting on the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group, made this observation: “In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist; And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist; And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew; And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up.”

God calls his people to speak up, or as the Psalmist put it, “Let the redeemed of the LORD say so” (Psalm 107:2). The Kingdom of God is extended when God’s people speak up. In your gratitude for all that Christ has done for you, I urge you to speak up. Speak up in your homes and churches. Speak up in your places of employment outside of your home and all the many places you enjoy social activities. The mainline media gives people the political and secular interpretation of the issues of our times. Speak up and give those around you an opportunity to understand the events in our culture from the perspective of Jesus who is our way, our truth and our life. (John 14:6)

In gratitude this Thanksgiving, let us resolve not to be silent Christians.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.