Blanks at the Firing Range

Years ago someone in the church took me to the firing range. It was clear that he felt that this was part of “equipping the saints.” I did not grow up with guns and I was pastoring a church in Vermont. And I agreed that being all things to all people might mean getting familiar with a .22 rifle.
I kind of enjoyed it, but haven’t been back since. The chief dividend of that experience seems to have been the sermon illustrations. 
Here’s one:
When it comes to gratitude you want to aim well and use live ammunition. 
Some of our neighbors are really grateful and it’s to their credit. But they don’t have a good idea of who exactly to thank for the blessings in their lives. They express their gratitude, putting it out in the world and their sentiment hangs like a cloud of mist over their heads for a bit before evaporating away. It’s like going to the firing range, and just sending your live ammunition willy-nilly in volleys at the sky instead of the target.
But then some of us know exactly who to direct our gratitude toward and we are careful to aim well, minding our breathing, squinting down the sight. And then shoot blanks. Our gratitude might veer into the abstract. Or we say we are grateful for something we privately think we were entitled to or could take credit for if we didn’t feel obliged to give God the glory for it. 
But we, the people of God, should be of all our countrymen celebrating Thanksgiving today the most successful at it. We see the target clearly and God has supplied us with an abundant cache of ammunition. Nothing but bullseyes all day long. 
Jesus has been very good to us, the sheep of his pasture. And my prayer is that all of the people of Furnace Brook end the day today with full bellies and empty chambers. 
God bless you all!

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