“The whole town is talking,” my parents used to say. 

That meant that something unpleasant had happened. Someone has done something that created gossip. Phone calls were made. The men sharing coffee in the morning were assigning blame. And people were trying to figure out what exactly went wrong and why. 

Yet it doesn’t have to mean that. Sometimes, everyone talks about the new restaurant, the home being built, or the award someone received.

People are always talking. It can be about negative things or positive things.

When people talk about you, do they have anything to say that shows your faith? When you live differently than the people around you, they will start asking questions and talking to one another.

What would it take for their conversation about you to focus on your faith in Jesus?

Along with preparing food for the Thanksgiving holiday tomorrow, I think it is equally important to prepare your heart. We need to take the time to review all the ways we are blessed, especially as followers of Jesus. 

Here is a little something to get you started. These are some of the things this Christian is thankful for …

1. God. Our Creator, Sustainer, and author of our salvation. He gives our lives purpose and meaning beyond random chance.

2. Jesus. Our Savior and Lord. He died on the cross to pay our debt of sin.

3. The Holy Spirit. He fills our hearts with God, empowers us to live the Christian life, enables us to pray, and comforts us when life seems impossible. 

4. The Church Family. These misunderstood misfits are brought together by our mutual salvation in Jesus. These people taught, blessed, and stood beside me for a lifetime.

5. My family. It may have flaws, but God has blessed many of us with spectacular family members.

6. The Bible. Most believers forget how incredible it is that we have God’s collected writings in a place that we can access at any time.

7. The Internet. This seems trivial, but it is a more significant revolution than the printing press. We can communicate worldwide in seconds and connect with more information than the most extensive library can hold. It is a fantastic time to be alive.

8. Hope. Because of our faith in Jesus, we have the hope of eternal life. We do not have to face our death with gloom and doom. Rather, it is a passageway to a new life and a reward in heaven.

I could go on and on with my personal list, but these are the things Christians share. One or possibly two of these may not be as prominent in the lives of some, but for most of us, they are all enormous blessings. And these are just the start of reasons to be thankful.

As a Pastor, I must confess that I have some favorite people in the Church. These are people who I look forward to speaking with every Sunday. They fill my heart with joy and help me to love the community of God.

1. Anyone who is growing in the Lord. When someone tells me about a passage they read, something they learned, or how they are growing spiritually, it makes my heart happy.

2. Someone positive. Everyone can give you a list of negative things going on in their life. When someone can keep a positive attitude, I love hearing their perspective.

3. The person who always smiles. A good smile is contagious.

4. Those who are praying for me. The Apostle Paul often wrote to Churches and told them he was praying for them. I understand the power of knowing someone is praying for you out of genuine concern.

5. The people who serve with their heart. After all these years, I can tell who is serving on Sunday from a heart full of Jesus and those doing it out of duty. Those who love Jesus have a spirit that brings light and life, and I enjoy being around them.

Sure, there are a few people I am closer to as an individual, but as a Christian and a Pastor, these are my favorite types of people. These are the ones I encounter who encourage me to go home full of joy and thanksgiving after being together as a Church.

We dump coffee down the drain every week after our worship programs are over at Church.

This happens not because we are wasteful but because we plan to have enough for everyone. If anyone walks into our Church, we want coffee for them. As a result, we make a little more than we think we need. 

Every week, we expect people to come and bring guests, and we want to show them hospitality in this little way.

This extra coffee reminds me every week that there are more people we need to reach for Jesus. And our Church is ready to welcome them with open arms and a fresh cup of coffee.

A member of one of the Churches I led used to repeat the same little proverb to me.

He would say, “Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer you get to the end, the faster it goes.”

I did not completely understand it at the time; I simply laughed at his quirky wit. Now, I am starting to comprehend the wisdom.

This year has flown by, and I cannot believe it is almost December. My birthday is not too far away, and I have more than half my life in the rearview mirror. I have completed 30 years of ministry and am only six months away from being at my current Church for ten years. 

Time flies. This seems especially true as you get older.

Since this is true, the biggest question we can ask is not, “How many days do I have left?” Instead, it is, “Am I using my days wisely?”

I hate buying T-shirts. Even if they look good in the store, the question is always, “How much will it shrink when I wash it.” Sometimes, there is none, and sometimes the change is dramatic. It results in a few shirts I wear in the summer, not from Thanksgiving to New Year (if you know what I mean).

Shrinkage can be a problem for clothes. It is a more significant issue when it comes to our hearts.

There are numerous ways to describe what happens to a person over a lifetime. Your heart can become calloused, or it can become black, or it can shrink. It started happy, healthy, and the right size, but it can reduce a little every year. People turn their back on you, and someone hurts you. There is the loss of people you love, and other traumas are like hot water on new cotton; soon, the item no longer fits.

One struggle over the life of a believer is to fight shrinkage. At least I know it is for me.

I wish I could offer you a straightforward solution, but it takes concentrated effort over and over for me. I read my Bible, pray, write a thankful journal, spend time in quietness and reflection, do things I enjoy, try to connect to people who share my faith, and spend time with family.

For some of the shirts I buy, I am meticulous about how I maintain them. No hot water is used; they are often air dry only, and I make every effort not to shrink.

We must use the same energy to ensure our hearts fit us for a lifetime.

There is a long list of things you should do as a follower of Jesus. There is another list of things you should not be doing.

1. Attend every meeting at the Church. Choose one small group and connect with those people.

2. Try to know everyone in your Church. Focus on knowing 6-12 people and have a few quality relationships.

3. Serve in every area of ministry. Everyone should find one or two ministries and do them well. 

4. Fill every night with something religious. If you do something with Church people every night, there is no time left to connect to your spouse, children, or neighbors.

5. Live in constant fear. Do not worry all the time about whether you are doing enough for Jesus. Yes, all of us can do more, but don’t let your sense of obligation overcome your joy.

Choosing to be a Christian does increase your level of responsibility and connection to other believers, but that does not mean you need to live with a sense of being overwhelmed all the time. 

There are two extremes. One is not doing much with your faith. The other is doing too much. I see too many Christians who do not find a happy middle ground. 

Living for Jesus is filled with complex decisions, and your faith in him will be seen in all you do and what you do not do.    

Whining, complaining, venting, frustration, anger, jealousy, and bitterness are the antithesis of happiness. These never produce joy, even in the slightest.

Yet, when other people succeed, it is natural to feel these emotions, especially if it is someone we do not particularly care for. 

Being happy for others increases your happiness. 

Finding joy in other people’s accomplishments and successes, even if they are not friends, still increases your happiness.

You cannot fill your soul with negative attitudes and expect it to overflow with positive emotions. Only by genuinely being joyful for others will you experience the happiness you long for. 

My favorite comedian, Nate Bargatze, was doing an interview, and someone called him “an overnight success,” he responded with, “Just took 20 years.” 

The number of people becoming successful in any venture quickly is minuscule.

The journey to success is long, even the one of faith. Perhaps especially the one of faith.

Set your expectations appropriately, do the daily work, and prepare for the long haul.

Throughout my ministry, I have worked in smaller Churches and repeatedly had similar conversations. One that I hear the most is, “How big do you want our Church to be?”  It might vary in exact wording, but the concept is the same. “You want us to be one of them megachurches, don’t you?”  Other times, it gets a country Church spin, “Our little Church cannot reach many more people.” Finally, “I just love our Church the way it is.”

I could tell you of a hundred similar conversations, all with the basic premise: Our Church is small, we don’t care to reach new people, let’s focus on who we have, it is comfortable right now, and after all, there are not that many people around here who will come to Church anyway.

In the early days, I would confront those conversations with a Biblical fury and shout about the Church attempting to live out the great commission. Later, my heart broke knowing that people were shallow in their faith and understanding of the gospel message that people without Jesus are going to hell.

Right now, I simply want to ask, “Who is not welcome here?” 

If your children wanted to come to Church, would you like a seat for them, a staff person to help them grow, and programs to help make them fully devoted followers of Jesus? You would want them to be in heaven as a result of the work of the Church for Jesus. Each of us could name a relative, spouse, parent, in-law, coworker, or friend headed for a Christless eternity. Those are people we love who need Jesus, and when we say that we don’t want to grow or reach more people, we are saying that even though they need Jesus, they are not welcome here because we are happy without them.

We never use those words, but that is the truth many Christians are unwilling to face.

How big do I want our Church? I want it to keep growing until everyone has a right relationship with Jesus.