This week in the United States, we will celebrate a national holiday called Thanksgiving. From the earliest days of our existence as a nation, we have had a collective understanding that God has blessed us, and we should be intentional about giving Him thanks. In 1789, George Washington, the nation's first President, issued the first national thanksgiving proclamation, calling on all citizens to recognize God's blessings and to give Him thanks. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday, and it has been celebrated as such every November since. Though we probably focus more on food, family, and football than we do thanking God, it is still a great thing to have a national day of giving thanks to God.
The Bible has much to say about being thankful, including the statement in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, "In everything give thanks…". It is important to note that this does not say to give thanks for everything, but rather in everything. That said, it is still a remarkable statement of how thankfulness should be central to our lives and not determined by our circumstances. Psalm 100:5 tells us why this should be so, with the declaration, "The Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting, and His faithfulness endures to all generations." These words transcend our momentary circumstances. God's goodness, mercy, and faithfulness are always with us, giving us reason to be thankful in every circumstance.
Most of us probably understand thankfulness as an expression of gratitude to one that we believe is responsible for some good thing that has come our way. This is appropriate, but we must be careful not to limit our expression of gratitude to merely words of appreciation or thanks. Those are important, especially as we give thanks to God. We are told to "… continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name” (Hebrews 13:15). Our verbal thanksgiving to God from a sincere heart is important and should be continually offered. That, however, is only one element of how we should express our thankfulness to God.
A second way in which we should offer thanks to God is to "Serve the Lord with gladness” (Psalm 100:2). The word gladness is also translated as "jubilation" and carries the connotation being "gleeful, full of mirth." This is to be our attitude in serving the Lord. Most of us probably have a hard time having any positive attitude when called upon to serve in some way and few probably approach service with glee and jubilation. This, however, is what our attitude should be if we want to be genuinely thankful people. We respond to God's blessings by serving Him with gladness in any and every way He may call us to serve.
Similarly, when our thankfulness is "fully-grown," we will also give cheerfully. 2 Corinthians 9:7 says that God loves a cheerful giver, not one who gives under compulsion or grudgingly, but one who gives with genuine joy in their giving. So freely we have received, and freely we should give.
When thankfulness is "fully-grown," we will be people who so fully understand the extent and scope of God's blessings in our lives that we will offer our thanks to God in all circumstances with our words, our service, and our giving, and all will be offered in great joy!
As Lent commences on Ash Wednesday, we are entering a time of introspection and prayer leading to Easter. Let us reflect on the significance of death preceding resurrection, urging readers to embrace a daily practice of surrendering self in preparation for our spiritual transformation.