Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!

Know that the Lord, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!

For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

(Psalm 105)

The Thanksgiving holiday is very special to me. I love that we have a day to focus on being thankful. It’s neat to read Thanksgiving Facebook posts about things we are all thankful for, and I love the practice of speaking about what we are thankful for during our Thanksgiving celebrations. However, this year, I’m just holding my breath that we will be able to gather with our family and that no one will get sick as a result.

On an individual level, many of you have had worse times in your lives than Thanksgiving 2020. 2017 was a very difficult year for me. My father passed away just five days after Thanksgiving following an extended illness, and honestly, I don’t remember much else. Many of you have dealt with grief or illness or family concerns in past years. But on a group level, I’m hard pressed to think of a more challenging Thanksgiving season than we are experiencing right now. Everyone is impacted by something hard; and people I know and love are telling me they are scared.

The Scriptures tell us we should not make our thankfulness conditioned upon our circumstances. We should have a heart of continual thankfulness, no matter what we are going through, and we should even be thankful publicly when it is appropriate. Here are a couple of do’s and don’ts about how to be more genuinely thankful:

1. Do treat thankfulness as a spiritual discipline and be intentional about practicing it. How can we be intentional? Set goals, schedule it, and measure your progress. That may sound unspiritual, but it is actually very spiritual because it is intentional. That doesn’t rule out spontaneous thankfulness, but it does ensure daily thankfulness and a growing awareness of the need to be thankful. Daniel is a great example to us in this when he was in exile and in a very vulnerable position in the public eye. “Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before” (Daniel 6:10). Daniel obviously was very intentional about his prayer life which including giving thanks.
2. Do be thankful for everything, even the bad stuff. Why? Because the Bible tells us so. “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:15-20).
3. Don’t have a hidden agenda in your thankfulness. Maybe a good way to describe this is through Scripture using as example the Pharisee who prayed “God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.” Jesus could see right through this Pharisee, saying “For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Luke 18:9-14).
4. Don’t use your thankfulness to spread gossip.  We’ve all heard these prayers, which go something like, “Lord, thank you for bringing Joe through this bad time when his wife was running around on him.” Every word that we speak should be to build up and not tear down, whether we speak it privately or in public.  “Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly I will destroy. Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not endure” (Psalm 101:5).

I can’t think of anything that is as likely to change our state of mind, attitude and behavior for the good like thankfulness. Thankfulness points us to the Giver of all good things; it re-orients us to the sovereignty of God and aligns us with our true position in the family of God.

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Col. 3:12-17).

Give Thanks

In Christ,

Judy