My very 1st thought this morning: “My bed is soft.” (Should be… It’s form-mattress.) 2nd thought: “It’s nice and warm in here.” (Should be… We have our thermostat set at 67 degrees)
3rd thought: “There are no sirens, bullets flying, bombs blasting, or kids screaming.” (Should be… I live in the U.S.)
4th thought: “Why am I so privileged?”
5th thought: “I must use what I’m given for others or God will judge me!”

Sometimes we forget how privileged we are. I know I do! I’m not sure how many people in the history of the world got to enjoy what we take for granted. Like a perfectly temperature-controlled house – even Pharaoh of Egypt probably didn’t have that! And the freedom to go anywhere without fearing the authorities? Very few people had that privilege (Even as late as when I was a child in S. Korea, there was a curfew imposed on everyone except the police enforcing it)

This Thanksgiving, take 10 minutes to reflect on the things God has given to us that no one else in history ever had. Once you start counting, you will be amazed just how many things we have taken for granted (indoor toilet, running hot water, shower, stove without smoke, electricity that’s always on, pest control, telephone, microwave… just to start it off)

I’m ashamed to admit it but even after having given so much beyond the wildest imagination of most people in history, I was still preoccupied on the things I do not yet have. My mindset was still, “If I can just have that, I will be so much happier!” I’m given 99.9% of the world’s resources and I’m complaining because I do not have the last 0.1% of the resource…. How can I not fear God’s judgment? I’m the rich and the wicked that the poor people of the world cried out to God against!

Only by the mercy of God, I too can be saved. “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” Matthew 19:24

Only God can make a camel fit through the eye of a needle. Only God can make rich folks like us enter into the kingdom of heaven. (If your household income is over $40,000, you are richer than 90% of the world – or is that 95%?)

Be thankful for what you are given. But be especially thankful for your salvation.

It should’ve been impossible.

PH