It’s that time of year again, when we call our family members and make plans for the upcoming holidays. What do you think of when you hear the word Thanksgiving? Visions of turkey, football, and road trips may dance in your head. American traditions include things like watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, running a turkey trot, or attending a local school pageant. But what is thanksgiving about really? “It’s a special day with family and friends,” you may say. “It is a national holiday with historical precedent,” you may acknowledge. “It’s a secular holiday with religious significance,” you may note. Each of these statements are true, but you probably also know that Thanksgiving is much more than that.
Have you ever wondered how unbelievers celebrate Thanksgiving? Well, many of them probably celebrate it not much differently than you do. They also enjoy the traditions that we just mentioned. Many Americans gather around a table with friends and family, enjoy a big meal, and go around sharing things for which they are thankful. So, what makes the difference between how an unbeliever may celebrate Thanksgiving and how a Christian should celebrate Thanksgiving?
Well, the word itself gives us a clue. According to Merriam-Webster, thanksgiving is “the act of giving thanks.” Giving is in the word! And giving requires both a giver and a receiver—a subject of the verb and an object of the verb. We know that we are the subjects—the givers of the thanks. But who is the receiver, the object of thanksgiving?
The book of psalms makes it abundantly clear. Psalm 75:1 says, “Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks: for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare.” Psalm 106:1 says, “Praise ye the LORD, O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth forever.” Psalm 107:1 says, “O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good.” Several other psalms begin with the same exact phrasing as these. The remainder of each of these psalms lists things for which we are to give thanks, but only after establishing to whom we are to give thanks. It emphasizes giving thanks to someone, not just for something.
So, what is the secret to living a life of thanksgiving? Well, based on these psalms, it seems as simple as keeping our priorities straight. For example, Psalm 75 contrasts two kinds of people: the haughty and the humble. In Psalm 75:4-7, the writer warns, “I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly: and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn: lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck. For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: He putteth down one, and setteth up another.” The haughty prioritize the things they have gotten for themselves or made to happen rather than prioritizing God. Why is it foolish to be haughty and to seek to lift ourselves up? Ultimately, we are not responsible for promoting ourselves. God is.
We may think we are more spiritual than the “fools” that the psalmist addresses here, but we can just as easily slip into this self-dependent, self-promoting attitude. Have you ever thought, “But if I don’t look out for myself, who will?” The self-preservation instinct is strong in all of us, and it is not wrong until it mutates into a self-promotion instinct! When we have this self-dependent, self-promoting attitude, we cannot be thankful people. We are ungrateful because we do not have anyone to thank for our successes but . . . well, ourselves! God warns us that when we think we have lifted ourselves up, we are actually setting ourselves up for a fall. The scripture is full of this principle. Luke 14:11 says, “For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” The latter part of James 4:6 says, “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.” Later verse 10 says, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” I Peter 5:6 echoes this principle, saying, “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.” You get the idea, right? As Psalm 75 says, promotion comes from God, the Judge. The two kinds of people contrasted in this psalm are the ungrateful haughty and the humble who are thankful because they realize from whom anything good comes.
So, why does God despise ungratefulness so much? For one thing, he hates it because it really stems from a heart of pride. But He also hates it because it leads to “greater” sins. We see this progression in Romans 1:21: “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their own imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” The passage goes on to describe sins like idolatry and immorality. How did it all start for them? They failed to glorify (or exalt) God as God in their lives and instead glorified themselves. This self-promotion led to ingratitude, which then led to sins like idolatry and whatever else sprung from their vain imaginations. We may cringe and think we could never be as evil as they were, but ingratitude is like putting our foot in the door to greater sins.
Take for example the history of Israel. Psalm 78:11 says that they “forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them.” The following verses describe the miracles that the children of Israel had seen with their own eyes! But rather than thank the Lord for His provision, they complained when they felt they needed more. Verses 17 and 18 says, “And they sinned yet more against him . . . And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.” Rather than thank God, they asked for more from God! In His astounding mercy, God gave them what they asked for, but verses 30-31 says, “They were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat was yet in their mouths, the wrath of God came upon them.” When we are not estranged from our lust, we become estranged from our God. This was Israel’s problem: they were fixated on what they could get from God rather than on God Himself, the Father of lights, the Giver of all good things. Before they knew it, the children of Israel had erected a golden calf and were worshipping that hunk of metal as if it were the one that had led them out of Egypt! How in the world could they sink to such a low? Simple. They failed to glorify God as God, neither were thankful.
The same danger faces us today. Ingratitude is simply a matter of misplaced priorities. It’s failing to see God in our lives because we are so busy looking for things that we think we need or want. When we put the gifts before the Giver, we are fertile ground in which haughtiness and ingratitude may grow. Sometimes we may post a picture of our family or share a testimony in church and put the emphasis on what we are thankful for. While it is certainly not wrong to express gratitude for people and things, we must guard our hearts against glorifying them instead of God, the Giver. We say things like, “I feel so grateful” or “I’m just so thankful for . . .” Well, unbelievers can say things like that, too. But what if thanksgiving is more than just a positive feeling swelling inside our chest cavities? What if we started those phrases with, “I feel so grateful to God . . . “ or “I’m just so thankful to God for . . .”? This lets others know what our priority is—the Giver not the gift—and it encourages them to focus on God, too. When we start with the object of our thanksgiving, we are glorifying God as God in our lives. When we fixate on the Giver of the gifts, then the gifts He gives just become that much more satisfying. Psalm 107:9 says, “For he [God] satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.” It doesn’t say “things” or “a person” satisfies the longing soul. It says God does that. When we are satisfied in God, the things He gives us are like a cherry on top of an ice cream Sunday. Psalm 115:1 says, “Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake.” Thanksgiving is simply acknowledging God in our lives and giving Him the credit due His name. Thanksgiving Day should be about celebrating God—Who He is and what He has done.
So, is your thanksgiving in order? Giving thanks for things is imperative! But giving thanks to the Giver is the first priority. This Thanksgiving Day let’s keep our priorities straight. If we do, we will shine as lights in this world (Philippians 2:15). Not only that, but we will find Thanksgiving so much sweeter, too.