November brings us once again to Thanksgiving Day, and puts the matter of giving thanks in the forefront of our minds. Although historically this special day does not have origin in the Christian calendar as do Christmas and Easter, Christians have multiple reasons for making Thanksgiving a time with deep and meaningful religious significance. After all, the practice of giving thanks is very biblical.
Multiple Bible passages point out the responsibility and value of being grateful. For example, 1 Thessalonians 5:18 admonishes believers, “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Ephesians 5:20 speaks about giving thanks continually for everything when it says, “Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
In like manner, Philippians 4:6 calls for petitionary prayer to be mingled with giving thanks: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”
Look to the psalms
Along with such New Testament passages are numerous examples in the Old Testament, especially in the Psalms. We read of the psalmist’s resolve: “I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord” (116:17). In the beloved 100th psalm we read, “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him and bless His name” (v. 4). In a similar call to give thanks, Psalm 95:2 says, “Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.”
While our annual Thanksgiving Day has its roots in the example of the pilgrim colony at Plymouth in 1621, the practice of giving thanks indeed has deep biblical roots. Undergirding the biblical admonition about giving thanks is the truth expressed in James 1:17 with its reminder, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”
Christians and non-Christians alike are recipients of God’s common grace, experienced in such material benefits as food, clothing, shelter, friends, family. In addition, that common grace prompts giving thanks for such shared blessings as love, friendship, prosperity and peace.
For what blessings will this Thanksgiving month find us repeatedly giving thanks to God?
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