It’s so easy to spot the negative things. It’s so easy to gripe about the bad stuff with others. It’s so easy to complain about what’s wrong with the world.
But the Bible repeatedly calls the saints of God to rise above this downward pull of negativity. In fact, for those who have a relationship with their Heavenly Father, who call Jesus their Savior, and who call the Holy Spirit their Counselor, there is really only one way to live: Grateful!
This Thanksgiving season, let’s renew our commitment to live with such gratitude that we begin to reverse the trends toward the negative that seem to envelope our culture. I hope you can join me at Calvary Assembly of God beginning this Sunday for our series Be Thankful.
If you have missed any of the messages in this series, check them out here:
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A couple of years ago I was in a car accident, but I never saw the car that hit me. Fortunately, the driver in the vehicle right behind me, a driver who was nearly hit by the car who hit me, and another driver waiting at the same intersection all shared their stories with the sheriff’s deputy. All of their stories had slightly different details, but putting all of their accounts together, they gave the deputy a complete story of what happened.
This is one of the features throughout the Bible that repeatedly convinces me that the events are both historically accurate and divinely inspired. I love reading the Old Testament prophecies that are fulfilled in the New Testament, the different perspectives the four Gospel writers give of the public ministry of Jesus, and the details in the epistles that correspond with the historical accounts found elsewhere (both inside and outside Scripture).
Luke was one of the Gospel writers who also wrote a sequel called the Book of Acts. In this historical record of the early church, he documents many confirming details. For example, consider the story of Saul’s encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. Luke tells us the story in Acts 9, and then repeats the story as Paul is telling it to different audiences in chapters 22 and 26. Without the details that Luke records, skeptics could easily chalk up Saul’s experience to a hallucination or even madness, as Governor Festus claimed in Acts 26:24.
For instance, the bright light that got Saul’s attention was seen by both Saul and his companions that were traveling with him. These were Jews who shared Saul’s hatred of Christianity, so they would have no desire to bolster Saul’s story after he himself became a Christian. The brilliance of this light knocked all of the travelers to the ground (9:3–8; 22:6–7, 11; 26:13–14).
Everyone heard the voice of Jesus speaking to Saul, although Saul was the only one who could understand His words spoken to him in the Aramaic language (9:4–7; 22:7–9; 26:14).
All of Saul’s companions and a Jewish Christian named Ananias could attest to Saul’s physical blindness after being exposed to this bright light (9:8, 17–18; 22:11–13).
Ananias confirmed what Jesus had said to Saul, although he was in Damascus (and not on the road with him) when Jesus spoke to Saul. This was because Ananias had also been given a vision of what was happening with Saul, and what Jesus had said to him (9:10–17; 22:12–16).
All of these confirming details assure us that Saul was not hallucinating, nor did he concoct some fantastic tale to thrill his audiences. This was an actual historical event that is attested to by many sources.
This is the consistent evidence we find throughout all of Scripture. This means that we can trust both the divine inspiration and the historical reliability of everything we read in the Bible.
It’s so easy to spot the negative things. It’s so easy to gripe about the bad stuff with others. It’s so easy to complain about what’s wrong with the world. 
Craig T. Owens 