A Thanksgiving Meditation

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, his love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of gods, his love endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord of Lords: his love endures forever…
Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever. (Psalm 136:1, 2, 3, 26)

Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

It is commonplace in Christian theology to say that all Christian ethics (our behavior and our morals) is nothing more than thankfulness. If there is one thing that ought to distinguish a Christian person from a non-Christian person, it is that the Christian person has learned the art of giving thanks. The apostle Paul says that God is angry with the non-Christian world because "although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God, nor gave thanks to him…" (Romans 1:21). Gratitude is the mark of the Christian. Ingratitude is the mark of the pagan.

Why is saying "thank you" such a big issue to God? I think thanksgiving is such a big deal because thanksgiving reveals a person's fundamental view of life. By giving thanks, we recognize that we are dependent upon God and upon other people for all the good in our lives. Indeed, there are two basic approaches to life. Either I say that I am the source, I am a self-made man, the good in my life is because of me. Or in thankfulness, I say that there is nothing in my life that I've accomplished completely on my own. Thanksgiving acknowledges that the good in my life has come from the hand of God and also from the efforts of many people around me.

Did you get an "A" on an exam? Congratulations, but don't forget the teacher who put up with your attitude long enough to teach you the subject. And don't forget your parents who gave you a love of learning.

Did you get a bonus for your job performance? That's great! But don't forget your secretary and the team that enhances your job performance. Don't forget your dad who instilled in you a love of hard work. Don't forget to say thank you to God, who is the source of everything good in life.

Theoretically, you may believe in God, but practically, if you are not taking a chunk of time each day to say thank you to God, you are living like a pagan or an atheist. One way to measure the quality of your relationship with God is to ask yourself the question, "Do I thank God and other people a lot each day?" Is my life generally characterized by extravagant thankfulness? When I pray are my prayers filled with thanksgiving? Do I regularly write notes and emails to people saying thank you to them?

The Problem of Entitlement
Why is it that we Americans are not very good at giving thanks? There are at least three obstacles that I can think of to the expression of thanksgiving. The first obstacle, of course, for us as Americans is our whole perspective regarding entitlement. We Americans believe that what we have is ours by way of some sort of divine right. One can see this by our reaction when things go wrong. The first thing that someone says if he or she gets sick, experiences tragedy, experiences financial or marital problems is "God, why? Why did you do this to me?" Is it not rare for a person to say, "God, why?" regarding the good things we enjoy in life? The reason we don't say "why" to God when things are going well is because we believe that what we have is only our due-of course, everything should go well for us.

Donald McCullough, in one of my favorite books titled Say Please, Say Thank You: The Respect We Owe One Another, said, "Here is the revolutionary truth revealed through the eyes of gratitude: Nothing has to be. The proverbial cup may be half empty, but it could be completely empty."

John Claypool tells of the horror of losing his ten-year old daughter to leukemia. A couple of years after her death, when he was able to look back from a little distance, he said, "At least it makes things bearable when I remember that Laura Lue was a gift, pure and simple, something I neither earned nor deserved nor had a right to. And when I remember that the appropriate response to a gift, even when it is taken away, is gratitude, then I am better able to try and thank God that I was given her in the first place…The way of gratitude does not alleviate the pain, but it sometimes put light around the darkness and builds strength to move on." What a profound thought: even the lives of our children didn't have to be.

In other words, brothers and sisters, there is no inevitability regarding the good things in life. The Christian word for "no inevitability (nothing had to be)" is grace. Over against the American sense of entitlement that "I should have great food, lots of attention, lots of love, healthy children, a great education, a hot shower, and a warm place to sleep each night," we Christians ought to regularly remind ourselves that all that I have enjoyed this year is a result of sheer grace. It is truly shocking that so much in our lives work out so well.

The Problem with Greed
A second obstacle to our giving thanks is our American greed. Instead of enjoying the pleasure that we have now, we want more than God is currently giving. We are like children at Christmas who after opening our presents say, "Is that all? Are these all the gifts I get?" Greed crushes a grateful heart. Greed is the heart attitude that says whatever I have is not enough. We can't say thank you for the husbands we have because our husbands are not spiritual enough, affectionate enough, or communicative enough. We can't say thank you for the wives we have because our wives are not supportive enough, encouraging enough, or thin enough. We can't say thank you for the friends we have because we are not married. We can't say thank you for our jobs because we don't make enough money, or our bosses are not good enough managers. We have houses, but they aren't nice enough. We have clothes, but they are not fashionable enough. Greed kills thanksgiving.

The Problem of Procrastination
So does procrastination. Thanksgiving is something that we always mean to do, but the tyranny of the urgent pushes our expression of thanks to the back burner. There is always one more project that we need to complete before we write a note to someone saying thank you. There is always another bed to make, another meal to cook, another TV show to watch, and then we will say thanks. But we never actually get around to it.

The Practice of Thanksgiving

1. Why not establish a habit beginning this Thanksgiving of starting your prayers each morning by saying thank you to God. Before you ask for more, before you confess your sins, before you say anything else, say these two words to God, "thank you." Say them over and over. (Read Psalm 136!)

2. Go around the Thanksgiving table this year and have people share one thing they are truly thankful for.

3. Write notes of thanks to people whose efforts you should have acknowledged (the mailman, a teacher, your small group leader, your co-workers), but have not.

4. Give thanks! Thanksgiving, like playing the piano, takes practice. Practice saying "thank you" twice as much as you complain; three times as much; four times as much…

Many blessings to you this Thanksgiving. I am truly thankful to God for each one of you.

With much affection,
Rich