The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1902-11-28

1
proclamation that, 1--WE seek to praise
Him not by words only but by deeds,
by the way in which we do our duty to
| ourselves and to our fellow men,"
! Recognition of Dependence.-The
| first element of true thanks giving,
whether towards man or God, is recog-
milton of the dependence of the indi-
vidual upon the Benefactor for the gift
received. The self-made man cannot
stand in the presence of God. 1t is
grand and inspiring sight to see hu-
man pluck and determination carry
| ing the individual step by step up the
steep mountain side of difficulty until
| the summit of success is reached. But
| the self-made man on the mountain
| top of his success must gaze still
higher than himself and the eminent
place he occupies for the reason of his
existence and his success. He is de-
pendent upon God for life, for abilities,
for opportunities, whether he recog-
nizes such relationship to his Creator,
or not. And if this is true of those
who have seemingly done so much for
themselves, surely it is true of those
of us who occupy comparatively hum
BILE and unknown spheres in life. These
two points we wish to emphasize: The
fact of our dependence and recogni-
tion of such dependence.
The recognition of this dependence
! marks the difference between super
fetal Thanksgiving and true thanks
| giving. 1t is all very well, or rather,
| it is not we'll at all, to in a general
way talk about God as the Giver of all
| things, to say that He is the Sender
of the rain and the sunshine, that He
unrOlls the springtime of blowing and
sowing, the summertime of growing
and ripening, the fall of harvesting,
and the wintertime of Natures rest,
but it is quite another thing for the
heart to swell in humble gratitude to-
wards God for His gifts and His bless
ings.
In how far the spirit of Thanksgiv-
! ing day celebration and even worship
of to-day is a genuine expression of
| gratitude towards God may be judged.
! perhaps, by our further analysis of
what constitutes true thanks giving.
Certain it is that the football games,
the feasting and festivities, the fam
! lily reunions and the Joy of congenial
| dSSOCldllOIS, the DdllIOOLl anu
and the thronged theaters are not
thanksgiving. They may be incidents
of the day which is set apart for the
| giving of thanks, but in no sense do
| they constitute the purpose of the day.
! The church services throughout the
land may give opportunity for the ex-
preston of true thanksgiving, but the
swelling anthem of the trained choir
the full-rounded prayer. the eloquent
! discourse of the picked speaker, the
stirred emotions of the congregation,
are not in and of themselves true
! Thanksgiving. Let us further apply
! the test and endeavor to discover what
is true thanksgiving. We have already
seen that the first element of true
! thanks giving is recognition of de-
! pendence upon God. We will next con-
| slider the recognition of the gifts and
| blessings.
Recognition of Gifts and Blessings.
1t is fundamental truth of mathe-
matics that the greater always con-
| tains the less. This is true of other
! things. For this reason l wish to
speak first of Gods greatest gift to
mankind in the person of His Son,
| OHIlSI JESUS, anu SHOW IndI all OInc
! gifts and blessings are contained in
| Him, and that real recognition of Gods
| gifts and blessings cannot be apart
from their relationship to Christ, the
| greatest gift. How could it be other
| wise? The center of Gods purpose in
| Heaven and in earth is found in the
| Christ; the only hope of the world
rests in Christ the Crucitied One. How
could thanksgiving to God for gifts
and blessings which left out the Christ
| in thought and spirit be acceptable in
any degree to Him? Recognition of
| gifts and blessings. then, as an ele-
ment of true Thanksgiving must find
! its center in the Christ. Our text is
| addressed to believers on and followers
of Jesus Christ. They are told to be
thankful. Gods message to the world
| is not, "be thankful' for lesser gifts
| but, "believe on and accept" the great
| est gift. While the greatest gift re-
mains unreceived and unappropriated
acceptable thanks cannot be rendered
to God for His lesser gifts.
The multitudes ate of the loaves and
| fishes which passed from the Masters
hand of blessing and were filled, and
they were so enthusiast ticaIly thankful
| that they wanted to take Jesus and
make Him their king, but they were
| not thankful enough to feed on tie
| Living Bread which was offered them
Do you suppose for minute God was
pleased with the fieshly gratitude of
| a full stomach while the soul was
| famishing for the Living Bread? I'm
| doubtedly Natures vast banqueting
| hall on the mountain side where the
multitudes were fed rang with the
praises of Him Who had supplied their
| physical need. That open-air feast
was turned into rousing thanksgiv-
| ing service in recognition of the One
| Who had so graciously acted as their
| host but how much of their praise
and Thanksgiving really got above
| their own heads is shown in the clos
| ing part of the chapter where we find
not only the multitudes turning from
the Living Bread, but many of His
disciples went back and walked no
more with Him." When they found
Jesus had not established miraculous
commissary department and was net
| going TO continue to feed them, their
gratitude vanished in thin air and they
scattered "eyery one to his own way"
That multitude pictures for us in
miniature the world to-day. It's
gratitude towards God is dependent
upon the loaves and fishes of mate
rial prosperity. 1t counts its bless
inOS in dollars and cents, and IouSaS