Breathing & Debt free … Give thanks!
This may sound like a strange title for a Thanksgiving message. After all, many of us are getting ready to celebrate a day of thanksgiving with friends and/or relatives with the featured mealtime focus being that beautiful golden turkey taken out of the oven to serve as the center piece for our dining table surrounded with many favorite side dishes.
Before everyone fills their plates, there will be a prayer of thanksgiving with perhaps others sharing their personal thanksgiving unto the LORD followed by treasured fellowship.
Breathing and debt free—how are these connected to our Thanksgiving unto the LORD? Think about it. If you are not breathing, you are not among the living. And if you’re debt free, you can likely rejoice! However, let’s delve deeper into these two blessings, but perhaps from different points of view.
Each person has a long list of accolades to give to the LORD; however, some that have been front and center for me recently are reflected in the lyrics of the song, Great are you LORD. Here are the lyrics:
You give life, You are love
You bring light to the darkness
You give hope, You restore
Every heart that is broken
And great are You, Lord
It’s Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise
We pour out our praise
It’s Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise to You only.
What I would like to first focus on is the second stanza: It’s Your breath in 
our lungs … I hadn’t really thought about this miracle that I took for granted until I started to sing the words of this song and to meditate upon the vital nature of this gift. Every breath that I take is given by God! How basic is this to our lives—the breath that we breathe? It was given to man in the beginning of creation—and to every newborn thereafter:
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Genesis 2:7
There, of course, is much more to the spiritual depth of man becoming a living soul, but the simplicity of pouring out our praise for the breath in our lungs is perhaps enough to ponder for such a time as this. Have you ever REALLY, from the depth of your soul, thanked the LORD for giving you every breath that you breathe? Attached is a link if you’d like to listen to these meaningful words brought to life through music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaP8fKAR2Og
There is no doubt that many of the other words in the first stanza of this song will also touch people in different ways. After all, who hasn’t been at one time been broken hearted and felt they were consumed with darkness?
You bring light to the darkness
You give hope, You restore
Every heart that is broken.
This darkness might have generated from a marital issue, the loss of a child, relative, friend, or job; or even the disastrous loss of property from extreme weather events. However, most find that one day the darkness evaporates, and the sun begins to shine again.
If you’re in a period of darkness, may that silver lining soon peak through the clouds for you so you can praise the LORD for something good that has come out of calamity; even as you are able to praise the LORD for the breath in your lungs.
There is debt freedom for every person.
Now, let’s consider the potential of being totally debt free; something additionally absolutely vital for each of us. When the word debt is mentioned, most of us think about credit card debt, mortgages on our homes, or installments being paid each month for the car that we are driving.
Surely, these encumbrances are not to be our thanksgiving on this special day. No, they aren’t. Instead, the debt that is being addressed here is much more important, much more vital for our eternal existence.
It is something for which each of us should be deeply thankful—grateful, overjoyed, jubilant, even ecstatic!
It’s what the Bible calls forgiveness and is addressed in what many call the 
LORD’s prayer: And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. Matthew 6:12. This is something for which Jesus paid with the shedding of His blood on the cross—the redemption of our sin (debt). Every sin we commit creates a debt that we cannot pay with currency. That’s because sin debt is spiritual.
Even though sin (debt) is committed in the physical, or often even through our thoughts, it can only be dissolved (redeemed) spiritually. It is something that only Jesus can absolve, even though we have a part in appropriating it.
He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. Proverbs 28:13
The LORD makes it clear in Proverbs 28:13 that we cannot cover our sins with any kind of false repentance. We MUST turn away from, have nothing to do with, sin. Again, we must FIRST turn from sin (what has created the debt) before the payment is appropriated. What does this mean? We cannot live eternally in the presence of the LORD with unpaid (sin) debt.
Jesus went to the cross to redeem (the payment for repentant sin) you and me from a horrific eternal existence of pain and torture. Those transgressions which God considers sin, for which payment must be made (after repentance), are included throughout the Bible in many Scriptures.
Study, for example, I Corinthians 6:9-10, Galatians 5:19-21, Roman 1:28-31, etc.
Every breath and forgiveness of sin are treasures.
The above two gifts, the provision of every breath we breathe and the forgiveness for our sin debts, are provided only through the love of our precious LORD and Saviour Jesus Christ. They are so special and vital that absent either, none of us can exist physically and spiritually. The breath we breathe keeps us alive physically; the forgiveness of sin debt keeps us alive spiritually forever.
Are you breathing and debt free?
“LORD Jesus Christ, I am so grateful for every breath that you allow me to breathe and for the priceless gift of forgiveness (payment for my sin debt) which cost you so much.”
It’s Your breath in our [my] lungs
So we [I] pour out our [my] praise to You only
You give life, You are love
You bring light to the darkness
You give hope, You restore.
May you have a wonderful day of Thanksgiving, even as you ponder the gifts the LORD has given each of us.
We at Restoration Of The Family give thanks for each of you. We have been so enriched by your sharing your personal trials, pains, and tribulations; your challenges and victories; and, by your many prayers and support for us. Please let us know is you have any questions, would like prayer, or would like to be added to our free email teaching list. We are blessed when we hear from you.
In Christ’s Service,
Judith Brumbaugh
Founder/President: Restoration Of The Family: PO Box 621342; Oviedo, FL 32762-1342
www.RestorationOfTheFamily.org
