Every morning, I come downstairs and make coffee to start the day.  I pause to look at one of those wall calendars with pictures and Bible verses as I pass by from giving the dogs a morning treat to treating myself with joy in a cup: my morning coffee.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. Psalm 100:4

I couldn’t wait to turn the calendar to November so I would be greeted with this encouragement.  I love November.

Have you ever considered the intimate connection between joy and thanksgiving?

Many of us go through our days with nary a thought of thanksgiving.  We’re too busy searching for happiness and joy that seem to slip through our fingers like fine sand.  But happiness and joy are intimately connected with thanksgiving.  Consider the full psalm for my November:

Psalm 100:1 A psalm. For giving thanks. Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. 2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. 3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. 5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

In the entire Psalter, this is the only psalm specifically purposed “for giving thanks” though many of them are related to thanksgiving.  Psalm 100 is special.  It is a crown jewel of thanksgiving, showing us that we can give thanks in a few good ways:

Shout!—  Doesn’t this seem like an odd way to praise God? We may feel more comfortable shouting for our team in the NFL than in the context of a worship service or private worship of God at home, but starting our day with a shout of joy with thanksgiving can inspire us to see God’s goodness throughout our day.  It’s worth asking why we are not at all uncomfortable cheering our team’s scoring a goal, but feel sheepish about praising God for what He has done.  Could it be that we take praiseworthy things for granted?

Worship!—With an attitude of gladness, we can sing joyful songs.  Have you ever noticed how a song can cheer your spirit and lift you out of gloom?  I sing a lot.  Not that I’m all that gifted as a singer, but singing in worship of God makes me happy.  People stare at me when I’m walking the dogs and singing (albeit quietly), but it’s good for my soul.  Perhaps they’re jealous and should try this themselves.  Or maybe they just think I’m strange.  My kids used to catch me humming praise songs in the grocery store and say, “Mom! Stop that!”  Yes, I have a long history of embarrassing my children.  But worship in this psalm’s context is more than just singing.  It is literally “Serve the LORD.”  Jesus has been opening my eyes to how worshipping Him also happens when I serve those in whom His Image is present.

Matthew 25:34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40 “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

This is the reason I bring the Gospel to Advocate Condell Medical Center faithfully every week as a volunteer.  It’s my way of using what God has given me to minister to strangers, the sick, and those who need the healing, loving touch of God.  It’s an act of worship: serving the LORD with gladness.

Know!—A recounting of all the things for which I can be thankful ought to start every day, and topping my list of things is no thing at all: it is God Himself.  I know I don’t recite His faithfulness often enough, but paying careful attention to knowing God and seeing His faithfulness in all things inspires joy.  In a joyful disposition, I’m more likely to feel thankful.  But thanksgiving is more than a feeling!  More than just paying attention to the things for which I can be thankful, knowing involves recognizing who God is.  He is Creator.  He is Redeemer.  God made us.  We are His.  He is God.  We are created and truly, we are nothing apart from His grace.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise!—The gates referred to here are the temple gates and show the clear collective of God’s people gathered together in thanks and praise.  But it might as well apply to my times of prayer.  Entering His presence with “Thank you, Lord…” and praising Him for His goodness places the focus on Him.  It forces me off the throne of my own life when I praise Him.  It pushes me from thinking more highly of myself and into seeing that I do not think highly enough of God.  No matter how big I think He is, He is bigger, better, more wonderful than I know.  To praise Him along with others who also love our Creator and Redeemer–Wow!–this just makes the chorus more of a Hallelujah!  God deserves everything we can give in praise and thanksgiving.  Indeed, from all of us, all the time.

Give thanks to Him and praise His name!—Odd, isn’t it, that many people celebrate the holiday of Thanksgiving with no God to thank?  I once had a conversation with an atheist about Thanksgiving.  He explained that (in his view) we are accidents of evolution and therefore, his family celebrates their achievements.  They thank their mother for making turkey for dinner.  They thank ESPN for carrying good football.  They thank each other for things they are thankful for.  Personally, I find that lacking.  It’s a shallow thanks.  It’s like thanking one of my hands for shaking the other, or one hand for clapping the other.  There’s a mutual self-gratification and an affirming sound of thanking each other.

Thanking God is totally different!

Thanking God is one-sided.  He doesn’t need to thank us back, not even as a courtesy, because there’s nothing we can do that merits it.  It’s recognition that we have been given much, though we did not deserve any of it. Thanking God is not like the sound of one hand clapping–a void of anything productive.  There’s a power in thanksgiving.  When we are thankful, we are blessed with remembering His goodness to us.

But more than that, the end result is also the power of God unleashed on our behalf.  We see it in Paul’s and Silas’ lives in Acts 16.  It is seen equally as clearly in 2 Chronicles 20:15-24 (click here to read the full story).

2 Chronicles 20:20 Early in the morning they left for the Desert of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem! Have faith in the LORD your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful.” 21 After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the LORD and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: “Give thanks to the LORD, for his love endures forever.”

Scripture goes on to say that as they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes and the vast army against them was destroyed.  Praise and thanksgiving have power because they are directed at the Power Source: God Himself.

Just as a toaster cannot operate on its own, apart from being plugged in, so praise and thanksgiving plug us into the source of power that has been in the outlet all along.

Praise and thanksgiving are owed to God whether or not He answers prayer in the way we hope.  He receives our thanksgiving and praise and gives us more for which to be thankful.  It is His nature to bless and He blesses us in the best possible way even when it’s not what we expect.

My calendar gives the best advice to start any day!  This is why I love November:

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. Psalm 100:4

Matthew 22:36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Of course!  Why didn’t I ever see it before?

Perhaps you know the greatest commandment is to Love the Lord your God… but have you ever wondered why or how there could even be a second commandment “like it?” 

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Why did Jesus say that?  He was only asked for THE greatest, not the best two out of ten.

So I’ve been pondering “Why?”  In what way is the second like the first? 

I just had a “Could have had a V-8!” type of moment.

My past answer to how the second is “like it” has been: love.  Today, Eureka!  (Eureka is Greek meaning “I have found”)…I have found a new and far deeper perspective on this.  It has to do with the Image of God.  It’s one of those moments where I feel like I’ve seen the train of the LORD’s robe or been given a glimpse of His Glory passing by and I cannot find the words to express the deep place where it has taken me.

Of course, it’s also like knowing there’s a thought of complete brilliance as a gift of God on the other side of a spiritual fog that I’m not quite seeing through.  So if you’ll bear with me, I’ll try to share the V-8 minus the fog and do it with a chart.

I’m a visual person and a chart is the best way I can put a contrast together regarding my old perspective and my new perspecitve on how the second commandment to Love your neighbor as yourself is like the first, Love the Lord your God.

My old perspective of love—while not biblically indefensible—seems to be one lonely horse of a two-horse team.  It is a rather surface-deep notion compared to the Image of God.  Jesus didn’t die to save our flesh…or even our souls.  Our flesh and our souls still put too much credit on us!

Jesus died to save the Image of God in as many people as possible. It’s why He is patient not wanting any to perish.

If love alone was the key, then wouldn’t God have had Jesus die to save puppies and parakeets and kittens and the angels—in addition to people, because God is love?  God’s love isn’t limited to people, yes?  And His love is not limited to believers, yes? 

For God so loved the world (John 3:16).

But if God’s Image is the key, then it explains the vast importance of mankind to God while we were yet sinners!  Our importance is not because we are men and women, but because of God and who He is!  We are men and women made uniquely in the Image of God, unlike the angels or other created things.  It is His Image that He is reclaiming!

Therefore the second command is like the first and the new command is actually very old.  It goes all the way back to God’s decision to make mankind at all…and to make us in His Image.  Consider these:

1 John 2:7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. 9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble (emphasis added).

1 John 4:19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother (emphasis added).

How well do we see the Image of God in our fellow man? 

Do we love God by loving our neighbors as ourselves?

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For further study, consider these Scriptures:

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. 6 There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God– 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 13:34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

1 John 3:10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. 11 This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

1 John 3: 16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 19 This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence 20 whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

1 John 4:15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

In a world of our deepest pain, Jesus meets us.  He meets us in the manger of poverty and rejection; in the storms of fear and despair.  He meets us in the garden of pain and suffering; outside the tomb of loneliness, and in the emptiness of grief.  He meets us in these places, but does not leave us there! 

He draws us out to a place of hope.

Early in the morning, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb where Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had placed Jesus.  Alarmed that Jesus’ body was gone, she ran to tell the disciples.  Both Peter and John investigated the scene, but they left.

Mary remained.

Scripture does not tell us why she stayed.  Angels inquire why she is weeping. “They have taken my Lord away…and I don’t know where they have put him” (John 20:13).  The angels are silent.

She turns—seeing Jesus standing behind her, but she doesn’t recognize him.

’Woman,’” he said, ‘why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?’ Thinking he was the gardener, she said, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!”   (John 20:15-16).

Why Jesus would have reserved His first resurrection appearance for women, specifically Mary Magdalene, Scripture doesn’t tell us.  Perhaps her love was deeper, her need greater, or her faith in Him shone as allegiance evident beyond the grave.

I love how Jesus moves from the kind but impersonal address of “Woman” to a simple calling of her name.  “Mary,” He says, making Himself known in this personal way.  She knows Him instantly!

As a woman, I cherish this account. Who am I looking for? 

Jesus who stands universally with women and men in our deepest sadness and greatest need, even when we do not recognize Him. On a personal level, Jesus meets me, His Word illuminating my gloomiest moments of rejection and pain;  His voice reassuring me of His love; and His treating me with kindness, not as a second-class citizen of the Kingdom as women are sometimes made to feel.

When we encounter Jesus, He tenderly reassures that He knows us—by name.

For further study:

• What have you done with the claims of Christ?
• Do you investigate, believe, and walk away or do you remain by faith even when you don’t fully understand?
• Will you leave everything behind to be devoted to Him?
• When He calls your name, will you know His voice immediately?

For additional study:  Matthew 4:18-20, 28:1-10; Mark 8:34-38; John 10:11-21

1 Corinthians 11:23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you;  do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 27 Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. (NIV)

Do this in remembrance of me.”

On the very night He would be betrayed by those He came to save, the Lord Jesus gave us a way of remembering Him. 

 This way remembers His death.

Most of us cherish memories of the life of our loved ones—happy times we had together, favorite places we would go, vacations we took, laughter we shared, or hobbies we enjoyed with them.

What does Jesus want? 

He wants us to cherish His death—indeed, to proclaim it.

Isn’t it strangely beautiful?  Rather than asking us to remember happy things we could only know second-hand from reading Scripture, the Lamb of God—Jesus Christ—shows us that His sacrificial death is for us, in whatever age we live.

In a sense, we transcend time because we were there in the betrayal as far back as Eden. 

We were there in spirit the night Jesus was betrayed. 

We were alongside those shouting, “Crucify Him!,” not knowing what we were doing.   

We share in the inheritance of sinners.

But followers of Christ also share in salvation’s beautiful hope by the blood of the Lamb: His death for us.

So, Jesus calls us to communion with Him as we share the bread and cup and remember His death.

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take and eat; this is my body.’” (Matthew 26:26)

In the Garden of Eden, we took and ate…and received separation from God.  In the Passover, Jesus says, “Take and eat” and by the New Covenant in His blood, He restores us to fellowship with our Father.  Come to Jesus’ table and come to the Cross where love and judgment meet.

Unlike some pilgrimage to a distant holy site, this coming home to our Father is inward. We transcend our generation through a timeless fellowship meal during which we proclaim Jesus’ death.

It’s a spiritual pilgrimage to the heart where His death whispers salvation to all who hear and believe.  This is My body, broken for you.  This is My blood, shed for you.  A simple act.  A simple meal.  Yet what an amazing remembrance!

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Questions:

• Imagine having to pack up for a trip to a designated location once a year to worship God.  How is the Passover meal more accessible to everyone in the world?
• Are there ways in which the concept of eating the body and drinking the blood of Christ seems repulsive?  Why do we feel that way?
• The Passover Meal we celebrate as Communion is sometimes called The Eucharist (coming from the Greek word meaning “give thanks” and closely related to the word meaning “grace”).  Ponder the many ways in which the terms Eucharist and Communion are appropriate.

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For further study:  Genesis 3, John 6

Many of us long for significance, to have a legacy that lives on long after we die.  Consider the story of a man barely thirty years old who began a three year ministry during which He would radically impact the course of every life for all time.  Jesus Changes Everything.

Jesus went to a synagogue in Nazareth as He usually did, was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and began reading,

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”  All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked. (Luke 4:18-22)

Jesus proclaimed He is the Messiah, the fulfillment of prophecy, that God’s Spirit is upon Him as He embarks upon God’s mission of setting all things right!  (Receiving your political party’s nomination for a presidential run elicits cheers, balloons dropping, confetti, and large font headlines, yet it pales against Jesus’ bold statement.)

I am the Messiah, Jesus announces!  One would expect instant celebrity status.  Instead, the pronouncement is met with a mighty thud because—already—they did not believe him.

Yeah, Jesus speaks gracious words, but…wait a minute, isn’t this the son of Joseph the carpenter? 

Thud! 

Reverberating through the centuries, what we believe about Jesus—the God-Man who changes everything—has eternal consequences.

Who is Jesus?  Son of God and Messiah, or just another carpenter’s son? 

Jesus fulfilled all prophecy regarding the coming Messiah and rose from the dead to prove He is the Savior, yet He is met—even today—with a spectrum from faith to rejection.  When the trumpet sounds and He returns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, eternity will forever attest that what we believe about Jesus Changes Everything!

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Who do you say Jesus is? How does this change your definition of success or significance?

Read also: Matthew 16:13-17, Matthew 24:30-31, Mark 14:61-62