Giving thanks is a very vital part of the Christian’s response to God for all that He has given. We are often urged to be thankful today but often the focus is on the items for which to be thankful instead of the Giver of these blessings.
Our Thanksgiving always must be to some person. It must have the personal element. When we receive a gift we thank the one who gave us the gift.
What is the source of gift and giver, and how does thanksgiving relate to gift and giver?
In the Garden of Eden God gave to our first parents the wonderful gift of life, and through our first parents He gave the gift of life to each one of us. We can trace thanksgiving to eternity when a sovereign God made plans for man to be. When God carried out His plans, He created man and placed him in a world with everything he needed for life and happiness. James says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights.” No matter what the gift may be, it comes from God.
God doesn’t hand out His gifts personally so that we can see Him face to face, but He uses people and circumstances. We can all testify to the fact that God gave us parents who cared for us and sacrificed for us and helped to bring us on the way so that we are what we are today. There were schools and teachers, employers, husbands and wives. There were nurses and doctors, neighbors, friends, and even strangers, all kinds of people who showed love and concern for us upon life’s way.
The Bible commands us to give thanks. Let us consider the practical application of thanksgiving. Just how are we to give thanks to God in our day to day living? The basic gift God desires is our heart, because out of the heart are the issues of life.
“Give me thy heart, says the Father above, No gift so precious to Him as our love. Softly He whispers, wherever thou art, Gratefully trust Me, and give Me thy heart.”
A heart filled with love is a heart that strives to love God above all and our neighbor as ourselves, a heart that gives and forgives. Thanksgiving must be translated into thanks-living. That love for God shows itself in our every day affairs, in little things and in big things. How do we treat others, those closest to us, family and friends? The heart full of love covers every area of life, shopping in the grocery store and cooking our meals at home.
In 1 Corinthians 13 we find out that actions speak louder than words. “Though I speak with tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as a sounding brass, or tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing.”
When we have given our hearts to the Lord, we may and must also verbally bring our thanks to God in our prayers. Philippians 4:6 says, “In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” In this verse Paul reminds us t hat we should not only ask God for things but also thank Him for all His blessings.
If we have given our hearts to the Lord there is another way in which we can tangibly give our thanks to God. We can give of our money to the poor and for the extension of God’s kingdom. All kinds of organizations need our support so that God’s kingdom may come. We make our choice as to where we put our money.
Only the Christian can really give thanks. The reason for this is beautifully stated in the Heidelberg Catechism. First, we have to know how great our sins and miseries are, second we must know that we have been delivered from our sins through the atonement of Christ. Third, we must show our gratitude to God for such a great deliverance, and that’s where Thanksgiving comes in.
If God delivers us from sin so that we can have a place in heaven after leaving this life, we must live in obedience to the laws of God. Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”
It’s easy to be thankful in prosperity. It’s easy to give when we have much. Can we be thankful in adversity? Can we be thankful if we lose a job or face a serious sickness, or if a loved one is suddenly taken away from us? We don’t have to thank God for affliction, but we can show our gratitude to God by being patient in the trials of life and waiting upon the Lord.
In summarizing the reasons for thanksgiving we have first, our salvation in Christ and our home in heaven.
“Thank you Lord for saving my soul. Thank you Lord for making me whole. Thank you Lord for giving to me Thy great salvation so full and free.”
In Christ God also gives us all things we need for the present life.
In everything give thanks. “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is Thy faithfulness” (Lam. 3:22, 23).
Note: Mrs. Clara Einfeld Hamstra is a retired school teacher living at Lynden, Washington, The editor of this department is Mrs. T. Vanden Heuvel, 207 Kansas Ave., N. W., Orange City, Iowa 51041.