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Original airdate: Thursday, November 28, 2019
(unedited/draft show notes here, not a transcript)
Lead:
A Thanksgiving tale of a whale tail pendant (even if you don’t celebrate the American Thanksgiving).
Intro:
Once upon a time there was a pendant. You know, the kind that you wear around your neck. This one was a simple thing, probably even something you’d call junk — a dark, rope-like chord bearing the ornament of a whale’s tale. And in today’s All Our Minds segment I’ll share with you just what the heck it has to do with Thanksgiving. Even for those of you who don’t celebrate an American Thanksgiving.
As we roll into the book of Hebrews — one of my favorites in the Bible — it’s useful to remember that the writer uses a lot — and I mean A LOT — of Old Testament imagery. So one thing to know going in, there will probably be more times than usual where I give you verbal clues about the writer quoting an OT passage.
And one useless factoid of the day before we get started…you find the book of Hebrews immediately following the letters Paul wrote. There was a time when scholars among the patristic fathers thought that Paul wrote it, and a minority still do. The truth is we don’t know who wrote it, though, and one of the better arguments I’ve seen is that it was Barnabas (whose name you’ve heard many times because he did a lot of work with Paul). In any event, whoever it was clearly had a command of the Hebrew Scriptures that we know of now as the Old Testament.
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Bible:
Passage: Hebrews 1-2
Translation: NASB (New American Standard Bible)
Verses: 32
Words: ~729
All Our Minds:
And that, my friends, is the very source of our gratitude. Elsewhere in the Bible we are commanded to be thankful for the free gift of grace that forever changes the eternal destiny of those who trust this Jesus. But did you know that gratitude is now shown — in secular science — to have a positive affect on wellness? Just like years ago people were baffled when they demonstrated with science that prayer does, even when they can’t explain why.
For me, I just want to share a personal testimony. I’ve had a lot of pain in my life, and one result is that God’s grace seems all the more powerful and amazing to me.
For many years I had the pendant that I mentioned at the top of the show — a cheapo whale’s tale on a little cord. It was meaningful to me because I bought it at the Oregon Aquarium when on a daddy-son trip with my son who…is now estranged. I’d wear it every day as a reminder. Not because I’m into whales or love jewelry, because neither of those things is true. It was a daily prayer reminder.
But it was cheap. One day it fell off my neck and was gone forever.
Imagine my surprise, then, when I received that exact thing as a gift. It was a gift from my then-girlfriend and best friend who, oddly enough didn’t fancy herself a good gift giver. But it was exactly what makes for a good gift — knowing the person you’re giving a gift to and delivering something that has meaning. It was one of my favorite gifts ever.
And I say was, because a couple weeks ago, after wearing that one for years, that cheapo one also fell off my neck. Gone.
The truth is I had to make a choice. A sucky choice. It wasn’t precious to anyone else, but it was precious to me. It was part of my daily ritual, like praying for my children every single day.
My choice, however, was how I was going to mourn the loss — in more ways than one. And my testimony isn’t about me or my success.
It was a prayer, a cry, to the High Priest we just read about. Who has promised to be sufficient for us. Sufficient when our hearts are otherwise empty. Sufficient when, beyond our control, we lose something. Or maybe even have something taken from us.
There are so many reasons to be thankful. And there certainly is the fact that God — who knows what’s good for us better than we do for ourselves — says to keep our eyes on Him, to focus on what really matters, to see the half-full instead of the half-empty.
I realize that for some of you, Thanksgiving may be a time when you experience, or are reminded of, pain and loss and separation, too. But like we read today in Hebrews, God’s perspective for us is that this is temporary, and a new heavens and earth await. And eternity with the One who loves you so much that he came to take us home will make these days or years or even earthly lifetimes pale in comparison.
We will lose things, whether whales’ tails or things that are a lot more important than a piece of cheapo jewelry. But in perspective, it’s amazing how the light destroys the darkness, and we will be filled with joy anyway.
And that, my friends, will overflow into thanks. Giving thanks. Thanksgiving.
Love you!
-R
ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.
Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.
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