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Stretching Your Heart—Reach Up
By Roger Pryor, Heartland Community Church

The Thanksgiving Day holiday is an unusual day for a national observance. It doesn’t celebrate any great battle or victory. It’s not the birthday celebration of any famous person. It’s not the celebration of some political revolution. It is a day to say thank you to God—to reach up.

Unfortunately, in our politically correct world where we have to be careful not to offend anyone, we have succumbed to what a 4^th grader reported as to the origins of Thanksgiving. "The pilgrims came here seeking freedom of you know what. When they landed, they gave thanks to you know who. Because of them, we can worship each Sunday, you know where."

So what are you thankful for this morning? Take a moment, take out a piece of paper, and scratch out 10 things you are thankful for in no particular order.

How did you do? Here is one person’s list I came across this week. See if it comes close to yours.

This Thanksgiving I'm thankful ... That there aren't twice as many Congressman and half as many doctors; that grass doesn't grow through snow, necessitating winter mowing as well as shoveling; that there are only twenty-four hours available each day for TV programming; that teenagers ultimately will have children who will become teenagers; that I'm not a turkey; that houses still cost more than cars; that the space available for messages on T-shirts and bumpers is limited; that hugs and kisses don't add weight or cause cancer; that radios, iPods, TVs, washers, telephones and lights can be turned off; that no one can turn off the moon and stars.

What is it that separates us from the most thankful person we know? What keeps you from living the way they live? What is it that keeps you from living an attitude of gratitude? What are the barriers to a thankful heart—barriers that keep us from reaching up in thanksgiving to God?

1. Living the Hurried life. Most of us are card-carrying members of the play-hard, work-hard club. We’re more than just busy with things we have to do, we’re also hurried—that emotional state of rapid confusion. The hurried life causes us to focus only on the urgent things of life, rather than the important stuff life is made of. Sadly, it’s the things that are most important that cause us to pause and be thankful.

A research company in conjunction with the faculty of Princeton Theological Seminary told a class of theology students to go across campus to deliver a sermon on the Bible story about the Good Samaritan. As part of the research, some of these students were told that they were late and needed to hurry. Along their route across campus, an actor had been hired to play the role of a victim who was coughing and suffering. Ninety percent of the "late" seminary students ignored the suffering person—some even stepped over the victim--in their haste to get across campus. You see, the hurried life causes you to miss out on what’s important in life.

In order to develop a thankful heart, here’s the antidote to living the hurried life: you must slow down your pace of life. Even Jesus understood this principle. One day while Jesus and his followers were helping hurting people, Jesus called a time out in the middle of the game. Mark 6:31 says, "Then Jesus said, 'Let's get away from the crowds for a while and rest.' There were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn't even have time to eat."

Why did Jesus call the time out? He understood what most of us don’t: We must slow down our pace in life because no one else will. Everyone and everything in this world screams out, "Do more. Do it faster. Hurry up because there’s more to do. Squeeze more into less time."

Here’s the action point: resolve to cut out one (or more) non-essential activity. Cut your Internet surfing time. Say no to one of the eight football games you watch every weekend. Turn off the noise and get a dose of solitude. Eliminate one TV show from your schedule.

Author-Pastor John Ortberg sought some spiritual advice from a friend on how to bring some sanity to his ministry and family schedule. The friend responded, "You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life." Later, Ortberg reflected on his friend’s comments: "I've concluded that my life and the well-being of the people I serve depends on following his prescription, for hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day. Hurry destroys souls" (and it keeps us from being thankful as well).

A second barrier to a thankful heart is 2. Giving into Consumerism. If you spent any time at the stores this weekend, you know about the cruel realities of consumerism. How many of you devoured the two inches of newspaper ads before entering the holiday shopping competition? We are so accustomed to acquiring stuff that it changes the way we look at life. We become so focused on consuming stuff, there is no room for thankfulness or gratitude to God.

Psychologist Patricia Dalton says rampant consumerism, once confined to the holidays, has become a year-round American affliction. She observes unhappy people trying to fill the emptiness of their lives by irresponsible spending and then consulting psychologists like her to figure out what has gone wrong in their lives. "Those of us who lived through the 60s," she says, "seem to have forgotten the warning that everything you buy owns you."

If you are looking for an antidote for consumerism, become a contributor instead of a consumer. The Apostle Paul writes in Acts 20:33-35, "I have never coveted anyone's money or fine clothing. You know that these hands of mine have worked to pay my own way, and I have even supplied the needs of those who were with me. And I have been a constant example of how you can help the poor by working hard. You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

Consumerism is a monster in our culture. Let’s acknowledge that the monster exists. Let’s admit the fact that buying more stuff makes us feel better. But let’s also kill the monster by taking this action point: resolve to spend less money and spend more time with those with less stuff. I heard this week that we plan to spend about five percent more at Christmas than we did last year. How about committing to spend five percent less this year? Let’s strangle the monster of consumerism!

Last week at HCC we did just that. There was an incredible outpouring of compassion to those less fortunate. Seventy Christmas shoeboxes were collected with gifts for third-world children. A pickup truck and car were packed full of food for the Jesus House, and over $2,800 was collected for the installation of their heating and AC unit. But let's not stop the momentum.

During this season and even into next year, keep the momentum going by volunteering at the Jesus House or the Community Health Care Clinic. Help serve a meal at the Jesus House, Home Sweet Home Mission or the Salvation Army. Support a child through World Vision. And let's not forget those here at HCC who may need a helping hand. Spend less and spend more time with others. Just do something for someone who has less stuff than you do. Show some compassion and watch your thankfulness and gratitude toward God ignite.

A third barrier to a thankful heart is 3. Allowing life to harden your heart. Life is hard. Life is tough: constant house and car repairs; people say and do mean things; families can’t get along; our bodies fall apart; bosses are jerks; expenses go up but our income goes down. Life just seems to be full of multiple emergencies, crises or problems. There’s always something not working right, and that takes a toll on our hearts.

Our response is either to escape from life or find a quick cure, but if those two options don’t work we just harden our hearts and determine to protect ourselves at all costs. For some of us, it’s just easier to harden our hearts so that we don’t get as hurt by life and people again. Usually this works in the short haul, but unfortunately our hearts can’t be hard and thankful at the same time.

The antidote for a hard heart is to look for God when life is hard. Whenever there is pain in our lives, our immediate response is to seek relief at all costs. Typically, we don’t look for God in the pain. Instead, we run for comfort. So we shop, drink, spend money, do drugs, work long hours, or have an affair, hoping these things will deliver on the comfort, satisfaction and peace we crave. They never deliver what they promise, do they?

Friends, there is a better and higher response to pain and suffering, and that is to look for God in the middle of your pain and chaos. Run to God rather than to activities and things. Here’s an action point: resolve to trust God through the pain.

Here’s an observation I’ve seen in my own life and in the Bible—God is most readily found when we are in pain and turmoil. Many of you who have found God at HCC came because your life was a painful mess. But even in the mess, you found God’s best and a thankful heart for all he has done for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 tells us, "No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus."

A Frenchman named Charnet was jailed over some offending comments he made to Emperor Napoleon. Over the next few months, he became bitter and hardened over the injustice. Slowly he began to lose his faith in God. In a moment of rebellious anger toward God and his fate, he scratched on the wall of his cell, "All things come by chance." It was an obvious slap in God's face.

There was one spot in his cell where a single ray of sunlight came every day. And one morning, to his absolute amazement, he noticed that in the hard, earthen floor of his tiny cell, a tiny, green blade was breaking through. It was something living that brought him a sense of joy and hope. As his only companion, he nurtured it with his tiny ration of water. Finally, one day a beautiful purple and white flower blossomed. Once again, Charnet found himself thinking thoughts about God. He scratched off what he had earlier scribbled on the dungeon wall and in its place wrote: "He who made all things is God." He resolved to trust God through the pain.

Somehow this story reached Napoleon’s wife, Josephine. She was convinced that a man who loved a flower that way couldn’t be a hardened criminal. So she persuaded Napoleon to release him. When Charnet was set free, he took the plant with him. On the flower pot he wrote these words that Jesus said in Luke 12:28, "'And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won't he more surely care for you? You have so little faith!'"

Whatever you may be going through right now, stretch your heart by reaching up and being thankful for this is God’s will for you. And when you do, won’t He most surely care for you?