We have so much! Well, perhaps this Thanksgiving we don't have as much as we have had. The value of our portfolios may be slowly rising, but they are not what they were a few months ago. Some have lost jobs and still look for a way to pay the bills. Others have changes in health and life that may cause them to swallow hard when someone like me says, "We have so much."

Not long ago I sang "Jesus, Priceless Treasure" (Christian Worship 349) with my fellow Christians in worship. The words helped me remember that I do have so much. I think it might be a good idea for us to count the blessings we have in Jesus this Thanksgiving.

Jesus loves us with a deep, constant, lasting love. He knew we would be helplessly trapped in our own sinful natures—his enemies and destined for eternal separation from him, on our own. In order to rescue us, he entered time and space to be like us and claim us for eternity with his holy, precious blood. He has declared us to be free of our sin simply because he loves us—by grace, as we sometimes so casually confess. His love is still "wide and long and high and deep" (Ephesians 3:18).

That love helps us understand that Jesus is our "truest friend," as the hymn suggests. We rest in his powerful arms and depend on his power and love to keep us along the paths of our lives. So we sing, "Though the earth be shaking, ev'ry heart be quaking, Jesus calms my fear. Lightnings flash and thunders crash . . . Jesus will not fail me."

Think what that has meant for millions of believers over the ages. Our current troubles are real. I don't want to minimize our troubles. I understand the problems, but I also know that many before us have endured hardship, pain, and misery too—some more severe than any of us will see. Yet, Jesus preserved them. "God's great pow'r guards ev'ry hour."

Because we have Jesus as our treasure, we have so much. We can defy trouble, Satan's accusations and power, and even death. Our Savior is not dead! He lives. He said he would die, but he also promised to arise from death. What power that is! No one who has spent time on earth has ever made such a claim except for Jesus. Some think that it is all just wishful thinking, but I don't—and neither do you. Jesus said that because he lives, so will we (John 14:19). We have so much for which to be thankful.