Thoroughly Thinking Thanksgiving
More than a holiday
A Poem: Thanksgiving Day
On Thursday fourth
We gather,
We eat,
We laugh,
And eat some more.
Somewhere in between
We pause;
Give thanks.;
For a minute or two;
Then play games,
Or watch football;
Before off to bed
With stuffed stomachs.
I wonder…
How does the Lord
See our Thanksgiving Day?
Should not every day
Be filled with praises,
With gratitude,
Giving thanks
To the One,
Who gave His all?
Thanksgiving Begins With Humility
Being genuinely thankful requires humility! It means that we recognize that everything we have is not a result of what we or others have done. We should be thankful for everything because our wonderful Creator God has provided it. We did not create the earth where we live or the air we breathe. We did not create life itself. We did not create the source of the food we eat. All that we have in this world is a result of the wonderful grace of God, which should cause us to bow before him in humility.
However, it is difficult for a proud person to be thankful because they see themselves as the source of all they have in this world. With that thinking, they can only be thankful for themselves. Being thankful only for yourself results in the idolatry of pride and not recognizing that everything you have comes from God.
Thanksgiving Comes From Gratitude
A grateful person is naturally thankful. Because they are grateful, they show their gratefulness with thanksgiving. Remember Jesus’ encounter with the ten men who had leprosy.
While traveling to Jerusalem, he passed between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten men with leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and raised their voices, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" When he saw them, he told them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And while they were going, they were cleansed. But one of them, seeing that he was healed, returned and, with a loud voice, gave glory to God. He fell facedown at his feet, thanking him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus said, "Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?Didn't any return to give glory to God except this foreigner?" And he told him, "Get up and go on your way. Your faith has saved you." (Luke 17:11-19 CSB)
Our Lord healed ten men of the terrible disease of leprosy. Yet only one was grateful enough to return to give glory to God because he had been healed. I don’t want to read too much into this story, but is it possible that it indicates that only about 10% of people are actually grateful for what God has done and given them in their lives?
Ingratitude results from self-centeredness and envy. When we realize our dependence on others and the positive input that they have in our lives, it encourages gratitude, which leads to thankfulness. Gratitude and thankfulness allow me to look beyond myself to see others who enrich my life. Envy causes discontent and wanting more, which ends in ungratefulness. If I am discontent with what I have, how can I possibly be grateful for it? Without gratitude, thankfulness cannot happen.
Thanksgiving Produces Praise
The result of gratefulness is thanksgiving, which should produce an attitude of praising the source of all blessings—our Lord. This Thanksgiving holiday, let us be humble and “ful”—grateful and thankful - for our Lord's love, grace, and provision. Let us praise him along with the Psalmist.
Come, let us sing to the LORD!
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come to him with thanksgiving.
Let us sing psalms of praise to him.
For the LORD is a great God, a great King above all gods.
He holds in his hands the depths of the earth and the mightiest mountains.
The sea belongs to him, for he made it.
His hands formed the dry land, took
Come, let us worship and bow down.
Let us kneel before the LORD our maker, for he is our God.
We are the people he watches over, the flock under his care.
(Psalm 95:1-7 NLT)