My three "kids" with last year's turkey
Our family gets to have two Thanksgivings this year! My daughters and their guys have other obligations on November 25th so we will be celebrating two weeks early with them. Then some dear, long-time friends will be coming from Houston to stay with us a few days over the actual holiday. That’s a lot of turkey, dressing, and sweet potatoes. I pray there will also be a lot of giving thanks.
Lately, I’ve been thinking about what it really means to be thankful. Thanksgiving is our November theme at Scripture Dig. One of my posts was a biblical word study of “thanksgiving.” So I pulled out my language resources and studied to discover what God means when He tells us to “give thanks in all things.” (Read that post now.)
Basically, thankfulness is the right response to God and His grace in our lives. We don’t deserve anything. We don’t deserve forgiveness or salvation. We don’t deserve a job and a roof over our heads. Every good thing in our lives is an act of grace from our loving and merciful heavenly Father. Even strength and endurance in times of difficulty are grace gifts from God.
God wants our thanksgiving and commands us to be thankful. He doesn’t need anything from us but He does expect us to respond to who He is and what He does with gratitude.
I don’t need the bulls you sacrifice; I don’t need the blood of goats. What I want instead is your true thanks to God; I want you to fulfill your vows to the Most High. Trust me in your times of trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory. Psalm 50:13-15, NLT
Giving thanks to God for His mercy and kindness is a blessing and a privilege. It shifts our attitude and makes us more aware of God’s activity in our lives. It humbles us and allows us to see just how truly great our God is!
I want to purposefully practice thanksgiving this month of Thanksgiving. Many of my Facebook friends plan to post something they are thankful for every day this month. I’m going to join them and challenge you to do the same.
Shout out God’s wonderful provision on Facebook, Twitter, and at the grocery store. I’d also like to start a list right here so we can amass a giant tribute to God’s grace. Comment on this post and let us know what you’re thankful for.
I will get us started:
Lord, thank you that you make Yourself known to me. The truth that I can intimately know the Creator of all things is overwhelming and humbling.
Now it’s your turn!
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