Thanksgiving inspires all but the hardest heart to pause and consider the things for which he is the most thankful. I am no different. Like everyone else in the United States, I make a mental and sometimes an actual list of things for which I am thankful. My husband and the rest of my family are near the top of the list as is my health and our home. Also close to the top of my list is my church family. Another thing very near the top of my list is this country I love. However the first thing on my list is Jesus Christ.

Jesus is everything. Everything else on my list is a gift from him. He provided my husband and my family. He allowed me to be born in this country and to my parents. He gave me my brothers, my sister, my nieces, and my nephews. He sent me to the church to which I now belong. He cares for me. Most importantly Jesus gave me forgiveness of sin. He washed me clean of sin and wrote my name in heaven. He has given me eternal life.

Without Jesus Christ, nothing else on my list would amount to a hill of beans. What good is living in a country that allows the kinds of freedoms that we have if one doesn't belong to Jesus? What good are a loving husband and family if Jesus isn't the center and foundation of your home and all of your relationships? What good is a long healthy life if it is not lived for Jesus, your Creator? What good are any of these thins if a person ends up spending eternity in hell? The answer is nothing. As the wise man wrote a long time ago, "It is all vanity." A life without Jesus is a vein, useless, utterly empty existence.

Not only is a person, whose life isn't surrendered to Jesus and under His control living a wasted life, he doesn't have anyone to thank on this day of thanksgiving. All thanksgiving belongs to Jesus Christ. A person who doesn't know Him can't really be thankful because they don't have anyone to thank. This person doesn't know who gave them their family or home or country.

Where are you? Do you know whom to thank?

The good news is that Jesus is more than willing to forgive any one who repents of their sins and comes to Him for forgiveness. No one need be left out. Jesus himself said that he would not turn away anyone who comes to Him for salvation. You must omeHis way and which is in humility and full surrender and faith. Come to Jesus for true life here and life eternal. Make this a real Thanksgiving.