1 Thessalonians
5:16-18 (NIV)
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for
this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
As we
approach Thanksgiving Day, it is appropriate for us to ask the question, why
should we be thankful?
Thankfulness
is not a natural aptitude for us. It is far more natural to take the blessings
of life for granted or as our right. We can fall into the mindset that the
blessings that we enjoy are what we deserve. Afterall, that is what the TV
commercials tell us. You deserve a new iPhone or you deserve a break today.
When we focus on our abilities and our efforts we tend to see the outcome as
our right. When we focus on our rights, we tend to expect good things to come
our way. Being thankful goes against our natural grain of thinking.
Paul
told the Thessalonians that being thankful was God’s will for their lives.
Multiple times in the book of Psalms we are instructed to give thanks to the
Lord. Why is being thankful important?
First
and foremost, being thankful reminds us that everything we have and everything
we do is a gift from God’s hand.
As Moses
was preparing the people of Israel to enter the Promised Land, he gave them a
warning about not being thankful.
Deuteronomy 8:6-18
(NIV)
Observe
the commands of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and revering him. For
the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land--a land with streams and
pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills; a land with
wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; a
land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the
rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.
When
you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he
has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to
observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise,
when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and
when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all
you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget
the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. He
led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land,
with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He
gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to
humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you. You may
say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this
wealth for me." But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you
the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to
your forefathers, as it is today.
Moses’
warning is a warning that needs to be reiterated today over and over again. We
have placed our trust in our own efforts and in our own progress and we have
forgotten the Lord in the process. The reason that we are not thankful is
because we believe we have earned everything we have. But we are wrong,
extremely wrong. None of us chose our talents and abilities, even though we may
have cultivated them. Even the cultivation of our talents and abilities was
shaped by circumstances that we had no control over. No matter how “successful”
a person has become, their success is a gift from God.
Why should
we be thankful? Because all of life is a gift. The very air that we breathe is
a gift from God. The food we eat comes from his hand. He created it in the
first place. Our physical bodies are a gift from God. He created us unique in
the world; created in his image to reflect his glory into our world. Our
ability to take the raw resources of this earth and turn them into good things
is a gift from God. He gave us both the raw materials and the capacity to see
the potential.
Why
should we be thankful? Because God loves us so much that he sent Jesus into the
world to rescue us from our selfishness and pride. He came, not to make our
lives better, but to restore the image of God within us.
Why
should we be thankful? Because God had the right to remove his blessing from
us, but he didn’t. God had the right to wipe humanity off the face of the
earth, but he chose to redeem us instead. God had the right to make our daily
lives miserable, but he chose to bless us with everything we need, not just to
survive, but to thrive.
Why
should we be thankful? Because, in God’s design, thankfulness is the
fulfillment of every pleasure. Thankfulness is the elevation of even small
blessings. Thankfulness changes our perspective on our world and on life
itself. Thankfulness makes life worth living.
In our
affluent society, we tend to live with constant discontent. Great effort is
made every day to place our focus on what we don’t have or what we “deserve.”
This Thanksgiving, let us take our eyes off of what we don’t have and focus on the
innumerable gifts that God places within our lives every day.
Psalms 103:1-5 (NIV)
Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits--
who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like
the eagle's.
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