It’s Wednesday - the day before Thanksgiving. So, it should be no surprise that I want to spend a few words to focus our hearts on all that we can be thankful for. Of course, if we know some of the Scriptures, we know that it continually calls for us to be thankful. Throughout the Psalms, we are beckoned to gratitude. Psalm 97:12 says “Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name. We are reminded in Psalm 105:1, “Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the people.” We are called in Psalm 100:4 to “enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise;” and told in Psalm 92:1 that “it is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High.” This theme of giving thanks extends throughout the New Testament as well. Ephesians 1:16 models thanksgiving for us, as Paul reminds the readers that he does “not cease to give thanks for [them],” and a few chapters later, he urges them to be “giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph 5:20). We are to “give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thess 5:18) - a feat easier said than done.

We know these verses, but we flounder at times to be thankful. We struggle to relate to Ephesians 1:16 and Paul’s attitude of continual gratitude. We feel, at times, more like the parents in a fictional story that has been inaccurately attributed to Winston Churchill. Folklore has him sharing the story of a young boy who, while playing with other little boys, fell off a pier. This boy would have died were it not for a soldier who took notice and immediately jumped in to rescue the boy. After the rescue, the parents were not to be found; so, the soldier drove the boy to his wealthy home and left him. A few days later, the parents came to the pier, looking for the soldier. Assuming that they were bringing a reward, people helped them look for the soldier. When they finally met up with the soldier, he spoke first, anticipating that they might want to offer him a reward for his valor. He said, “You have to come to me? Please, please, I do not need any reward. I am so happy that I was able to save your child's life. That is my greatest reward. You do not have to give me anything." The father and mother said, "No! We have not come here to give you anything. We have come to ask you for our son's hat. Where is it?" Despite all that Christ has done for us, we find ourselves looking for our own “hats” in life. 

Romans 1 reminds us of the role that ingratitude plays in our sin. Romans 1:18-32 narrates the spiral of depravity that follows a rejection of God. It is a depressing descent into perversion and idolatry, but it all starts with ingratitude: “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him” (Rom 1:20). In a sense, all sin starts off with a sense of ingratitude. Just like with Adam and Eve in Genesis 3, we think God is holding out on something better in his commandments. The result? We sin. Every sin, either of omission or commission, is a reminder of how little we are thankful.

So, let’s get our hearts geared towards thanksgiving. To help us, consider the following reasons we are called to thanksgiving in Scripture:

  • The goodness and mercy of God
    Psalm 106:1 - “Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!”

    Psalm 107:1 - “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!”

    Psalm 136:1-3 - “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. 2 Give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever. 3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his steadfast love endures forever.”


  • The gift of Christ
    2 Corinthians 9:15 - “Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!”


  • The work of the Word in the lives of others
    1 Thessalonians 2:13 - “And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.”


  • Deliverance from indwelling sin
    Romans 7:23-25 - “But I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”


  • Our victory over death
    1 Corinthians 15:57 - “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”


  • The triumph of the Gospel
    2 Corinthians 2:14 - “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.”


  • The faith exhibited by other believers
    2 Thessalonians 1:3 - “We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.”


  • The zeal of other believers
    2 Corinthians 8:16 - “But thanks be to God, who put into the heart of Titus the same earnest care I have for you.”

This list is not exhaustive. There is plenty more that we are called to be thankful for, but it’s a start.

 

Your servant in the Lord,