Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1902-11-28

every detail of life. If SO. then the
third element in true Thanksgiving
means something more than religious
enthusiasm, more than the glad song
on the lips, more than the attendance
upon the Thanksgiving day services
Our president gives recognition to
this fact when he declares in this
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 thanksgiving.
whether towards man or God, is recog
milton of the dependence of the indi-
yidual upon the Benefactor for the gift
received. The selfmade man cannot
stand in the presence of God. 1t is a
grand and inspiring sight to see hui
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 recogDi-
ton of such dependence.
The recognition of this dependence
marks the difference between super
fetal Thanksgiving and true thanks
giving It is all very well, or rather,
it is not well at all, to in 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 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
ass ociations, the ballroom and parties
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 wha t
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 ma the
m1tics that the greater always con
| tains the less. This is true of other
| things. For this reason ! wish to
speak first of Gods greatest gift to
mankind in the person of His Son
| Christ Jesus, and show that all othe
! gifts and blessings are contained in
| Him, and that real recognition of God s
| 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 Crucified One. How
| could thanks giving to God for gifts
and blessings which left out the Christ
| in thought and spirit be acceptable in
any degree to Him? Recognition Oh
| 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 anc
| fishes which passed from the Master:
hand of blessing and were filed, ane
they were so enthusiastically Thankful
| that they wanted to take Jesus ant
| make Him their king, but they wer.
| not thankful enough to feed on tn.
| Living Bread which was offered them
| Do you suppose for a minute God wa.
| pleased with the fieshly gratitude o.