Thanksgiving through New Year's Day has always been a special time for me. I'm sure it is for most of us.
We love the traditions, the time with family, the joy and the beauty of the season.
This is the time when we focus on so many of the blessing we have received. We love being surrounded by those whom we refer to as our blessings.
I think there is something we need to think about.
I love when we think about and talk about all the ways we feel we have been blessed by God. It is important that we think about those things, remember them and remain grateful for them.
However, sometimes we can have such a strong sense of how much God has blessed us with good things and the way He has cared for us and our loved ones, that we can look at those blessings as our assurance that we are approved by God and accepted by Him.
Perhaps it is knowing this about us that causes Jesus to conclude His sermon from the mountain in the way He does.
He tells about the people in the judgment who will be shocked that they are rejected by Jesus, even though they knew Him, thought they were doing good things in His name and even called on His name. No doubt these people, like us, could talk long and with passion of lives blessed by Jesus.
But they were not listening to nor following what He said. We are all building a life. What are we building it on?