Yes, it’s true. I am rich.
Now, by rich, I don’t mean that I won the latest Super Mega-millions, Power Ball, half-billion (with a “b”) dollar lottery; I would have to buy a ticket first to be eligible. Nor am I saying that Publisher’s Clearing House arrived at my door with a (measly) million dollar check (if they did, I wasn’t home at the time). Neither am I saying that I drove my Maserati to the airport to board my private Gulfstream jet to fly to Monaco for the weekend (if I did, at least I was home in time for church today).
No, I’m not rich in those ways, though as many commentators have pointed out, today’s American middle class is rich by any historical measure of wealth: to have the abundance of food choices and quantities, homes with reliable heating, cooling, and electricity, motor vehicles, closets full of clothing, electronic gadgets, and money in the bank (not to mention the need for rented storage to hold all our stuff!), is beyond even the wildest dreams of the richest kings and queens through centuries past.
I am not even saying I am Rich because that is my name, for I am far too sophisticated and serious to ever use puns in my speech (though I must admit that I may have possibly told people in the past, “My parents named me Rich because they figured that was the only way I would be called that.”)
No, by saying, “I am rich,” I am expressing the thought that came to mind last Sunday during one of the songs we sang in church. The song was, “Give Thanks,” written by Don Moen. I have always liked that song, both for its music and for its lyrics, but this time the chorus struck me perhaps a bit more powerfully than usual. The words go like this:
And now let the weak say, “I am strong”
Let the poor say, “I am rich
Because of what the Lord has done for us”
As I sang it, I smiled when I got to the “I am rich” line, thinking at first, “Yes, that’s right: I am Rich!” (Okay, so maybe making a pun is not beneath me . . .). But the more I thought about it, the more I thought along the lines of how blessed materially my wife and I are, to have all the things I cited above as middle class wealth (except the storage unit), so that even as retirees, we are able to live comfortably. I even thought about the “I am strong” portion of the chorus, thankful to God that even though I am once again riding a wheelchair following recent foot surgery, I am strong enough to work the chair, use crutches, and handle numerous (seated) daily tasks. So in many ways, I can truly say that I am strong and rich.
But then as we continued to sing the song, the real message came through to me as it has over the years whenever hearing or singing, “Give Thanks.” The last line of the chorus says it all: “Because of what the Lord has done for us.” All the things I’ve already mentioned: material comfort, and strength in the middle of disability; plus those I haven’t, such as friends and family and a loving wife who helps me in my affliction while doing all the daily tasks I can’t do while seated; all these are blessings that the Lord has done for us (or in this case, for me).
I also thought of my blessings in contrast to the horrible losses so many others have sustained in the wildfires still raging in California. Homes, businesses, pets, belongings, and loved ones – all gone in minutes. The monumental tasks ahead of the survivors seem overwhelming. Add to their losses the stories of recent hurricane survivors, and we whose houses still stand must be grateful, and not take our present condition for granted. We must recognize that our continued “normalcy” is itself the Lord’s doing, and worthy of thankfulness.
But even that is not the extent of “what the Lord has done for us.” The greatest of earthly blessings is only temporary. As time passes, so do we, and all those things we use, enjoy, or rely on will go away – or be left to someone else. Solomon – the richest man of his day (though even he lacked a good smart phone) – lamented this in Ecclesiastes 2:18, “ I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me,” and in 5:15, “As he came from his mother’s womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand.” Jesus pointed out much the same in his Parable of the Rich Fool, where God says to the rich farmer who worried about tearing down his barns to build bigger ones to hold all his wealth: “Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” (Luke 12:20). Likewise, Jesus warned about our emphasis on earthly treasure, saying, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:19-20).
The greatest of earthly blessings from God (and he is the source of all good things) are by his decree only temporary. But the extent of “what the Lord has done for us” reaches far past this time on earth into and through all eternity to come. For God also provides us permanent, unending blessings in heaven, and in the new earth to come. We have forgiveness of sins, full reconciliation with God, and unbroken fellowship with each other. We will have resurrected, glorified bodies that will never again sicken or die. We will enjoy all the radiance and glory of God’s presence, and never have to worry about losing any of it. Jesus promised, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Matthew 24:35).
All this is ours because of Jesus Christ, who for us poor (yes, poor) lost sinners gave his life as payment for our sins, and then rose again to defeat death and show the way to our own resurrections to come. When we consider all that God has done for us, if we don’t include the gift of his own Son for our sake, we are robbing him of his glory and the honor due him. For while we were still his enemies, he sent his Son to die for us, that we might be reconciled to him and have eternal life. The old favorite verse of all Scripture still says it best: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
This week we celebrate Thanksgiving, the time for turkeys and touchdowns, for gravy and gridirons, and for sweet potatoes and couch potatoes. But most of all let it be a time when we can, in the words of the song,
Give thanks with a grateful heart
Give thanks to the Holy One
Give thanks because He’s given Jesus Christ, His Son
Give thanks for all that God has done for you – in this life and the next. And be grateful that you, indeed . . . like me . . . are rich!
Now, may the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious t you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.
Read: Ecclesiastes 12 and Luke 12:13-21
Blessed Thanksgiving