A Word Fitly Spoken

By Senior Pastor Gary Lewis

“A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.” Proverbs 25:11

Thanks is indeed a fitly spoken word. Why, then, do we not speak it and hear it more often than we do? It is not because we are not grateful. There is little doubt that we, today, are grateful for the blessings we have received. As the Thanksgiving season approaches, it is time to bring on the language of gratitude. It is time to say, “Thank you.”

Thanks to begin with, for our country. Undoubtedly, we are appreciative for our country, but in these divided times we seldom put our gratitude into words. To whom do we say thanks for our country? To patriots who died; to pioneers who displayed massive courage in the face of hopeless odds. Far too often, we neglect expressions of thanksgiving for the things this country does right.

Thanks to our families, our parents, who sacrificed for us, our children for their patience, our spouses for their love and faithfulness.

Thanks to friends, whose trust and whose laughter set a light in life that gives us both warmth and sight.

Thanks to people in public service – elected representatives, police, firefighters, emergency medical personnel, utility workers – who endure unending criticism and little thanks.

Thanks to teachers, aids, custodians and administrators in our schools for putting up with difficult children and unreasonable parents.

Thanks to nurses and doctors and support personnel in hospitals. In every moment of need, day or night, they are always there.

And, of course, we could add to this list many, many, more people. Thanks to our church volunteers who do so much to care for our building and serve in our various ministries – Sunday School, youth ministry, AWANA, Bible studies and committees.

Thanks to our missionaries, Scott and Nicki Troyer, who serve through Revive Ministries all over the country and for Pastor Victoria, her family, and team who serve the children at the Michael Saupe Multipurpose Building in Zambia through an orphanage and church outreach.

Let’s think this through together. How do we say thank you for these things? Do we just tip our hat and eat a hearty meal on the fourth Thursday of November? We say thank you by committing ourselves to the best use of the things God has given us. We express gratitude by commitment.

We express gratitude for our country not by reserving the right to desert it when it needs us, but by being willing to invest our best selves and our best thoughts in it. We express gratitude for the church not by reserving the right to check out the first time it asks something of us, but by commitment.

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One of our best words, the most fitly spoken, is thanks, and one of our best actions is commitment that rises out of gratitude.

Go one step further, then, and say thanks most of all to God for his gift of Jesus Christ, who gives us meaning to life now and life eternal to come. Thanks to God for knowing that nothing can ever happen to us that can take us away from his loving care. This is the glory of Thanksgiving.