This week, we celebrate Thanksgiving Day in the United States. It’s an official holiday set aside to give thanks to God for his blessings.
For some, however, it has degenerated into “Turkey Day,” a day for feasting and family gatherings. It seems for some, that acknowledging God and giving thanks to him is secondary.
From childhood, North Americans have heard the story of the pilgrims and how they landed in Plymouth Harbor on December 12, 1620 after a 66-day voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. We’ve learned about the hardship they went through those first winters in New England. Half the pilgrims died that first winter.
As a result of their experiences, they created the first Thanksgiving. Later, President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of every November to be an annual national day of Thanksgiving in the United States.
I’ve stood on Plymouth Rock where the pilgrim’s ship first landed, visited the community where they spent those first winters and walked through the surrounding countryside. It’s a moving experience to visit that part of the country and to imagine what they must have gone through, almost 400 years ago.
Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday. Thanksgiving is one of the days I have missed as I have lived and traveled around the world. Some countries have harvest festivals but outside North America, there is a not a recognized day of thanksgiving as we have in America.
Thanksgiving is not a biblical holiday. Nowhere in the Bible does it tell us to have a national holiday or even church holiday called “Thanksgiving.” However, the spirit of giving thanks is found throughout Scripture. The Jewish people had a harvest festival of thanksgiving, the Feast of Tabernacles or the Feast of Booths that took place at the end of the harvest.
Constantly in the Bible, we’re shown the importance and value of giving thanks to God for his bountiful blessings. The Pilgrims established this day as a result of their Christian values and their understanding of the importance of giving thanks to God
THE GREAT VALUE IN GIVING THANKS
Some have described this generation as “The Age of Ingratitude.” Some would even say we have a divine right to be prosperous. And when prosperity comes, too often we take it for granted without showing any appreciation.
The apostle Paul wrote, In everything give thanks and For everything give thanks.
The habit of giving thanks makes us better people, makes us easier to get along with and cures us of self-pity and self-centeredness.
Giving thanks is an antidote for a complaining spirit and brings greater enjoyment to life.
Giving thanks takes away our fears and anxieties, deepens our relationship with God, creates faith and hope for tomorrow and strengthens our endurance for coping with life’s tough moments.
Being thankful simply makes us better people. The most destitute person can give thanks.
When you give someone a present, it costs you something but when you give thanks, it doesn’t cost you anything. Everyone benefits when you give thanks.
HERE’S WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS
It’s God’s will for you to give thanks. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
It displeases God when we’re not thankful. Talking of the 10 he lepers healed, Jesus said, One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him – and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? (Luke 17:15-17).
Christians are to be thankful constantly. I always give thanks for you. (1 Corinthians 1:4).
Christians are to pray with thanksgiving. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. (Philippians 4:6).
Giving thanks is a primary activity in heaven. We give thanks to you Lord God Almighty, who is and who was because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign. (Revelation 11:17).
WE NEED TO BE MORE THANKFUL
We’re all thankful to some extent but we could all be more thankful. We need to be thankful in the good times and the bad times.
Being thankful is a discipline, an attitude in the heart that takes nothing for granted. It’s the attitude that says “I don’t deserve anything, so I’m going to be thankful for whatever comes my way!”
We need to teach our children to be thankful. Thankfulness doesn’t come naturally. It’s a habit we start when we’re young and that should stay with us throughout life.
Giving thanks is the outward expression of a heart filled with gratitude. Gratitude is the way we feel on the inside, the attitude we have towards God, people around us and the circumstances of our lives. Thanksgiving is the external expression of those feelings, it is putting words to those inner feelings of gratitude.
Thanksgiving relates to all of life, but the apostle Paul used a phrase that sums up what I think is the ultimate thanksgiving. He wrote, Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift . (2 Corinthians 9:15).
Notice two things.
GIVE THANKS TO GOD
I feel sorry for atheists this week. They must certainly be a confused lot of people because they don’t know who they should thank.
Yes, it’s important to be thankful to those around us but Paul reminds us to be thankful to God. God is the ultimate source of everything. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like the shifting shadows. (James 1:17).
God is behind everything good that happens. God is the great giver and it is to God that we show our gratitude.
Some folk have difficulty giving thanks to God because they think God has been unfair to them. Some are bitter and full of resentment towards God. I know people who have a great deal of difficulty being thankful because they feel God has been unfair to them in some way. One lady asked, “How come God healed Mary’s husband but not mine?”
Some have difficulty expressing thanks to God. They say they are thankful in their hearts but have difficulty demonstrating it.
We can express our thanks to God in a variety of ways, but one way is through our praise. This may be done in a very quiet, personal way during our daily quiet times with God; it may be a part of a spontaneous outburst of joyful praise as part of a gathering in the church. The point is: if you have a heart of gratitude, it will come out with some words of thanksgiving.
GOD’S INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
Paul was specific about the focus of our praise. Paul said, Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift. In these words, he was talking about one thing, the person, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is God’s indescribable gift.
Jesus Christ is God’s gift to us. God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes on him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16).
Salvation is a gift. The forgiveness of sins is a gift. Salvation and forgiveness come through the person, Jesus Christ.
We give thanks to God for Jesus. Where would we be without that gift? What kind of a mess would we be in if we had never received that gift?
Paul calls it an indescribable gift, or an unspeakable gift. In other words, Jesus is beyond description. Words can never fully express the greatness of Jesus.
How can you even begin to describe Jesus Christ? Human language cannot tell the scope of the gift. Human emotions cannot appreciate the wonder of this gift. The human mind cannot comprehend what it meant for God the Father to give his Son to us.
Try to measure the incarnation, God becoming man. Try to put a price tag on Jesus’ suffering, his humiliation and his death. It’s indescribable. It’s unspeakable.
However, the part we do understand fills us with wonder and it all moves us to give thanks. Though it is indescribable, we do our best to describe it. Though it is unspeakable, we do our best to speak out praises and thanksgiving.
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