An Encouraging Word: How to really give thanks
Thanksgiving is upon us. The secular society in which we live has conveniently forgotten the original reason and purpose for holiday. How many times have you heard people making comments about being thankful for other people or for their circumstances?
Giving thanks goes way beyond that! It predates any Thanksgiving Day parades, any presidential proclamations, and any meal between Pilgrim settlers and Native Americans in Massachusetts.
Its origins are found in the Bible. Thanksgiving began in Genesis with Cain and Abel and climaxes in Revelation with eternal praise. True Thanksgiving focuses on the love and grace our Creator God exhibited through the sacrificial death and resurrection of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. As Americans, we live in the most affluent society in history. And even when we are devoutly thankful for the material blessings God allows us to use and enjoy, we are not thankful enough! Let me explain what I mean through a story told by Tommy Tenney.
He believed that God spoke to him and said, “You know, Tommy, your favorite worship services and my favorite worship services are not the same. You leave yours full and satisfied, but when you leave, I’m still hungry.”
Tenney continued by writing, “God whispered this to me during a life-changing Sunday morning service. It was a divine encounter that forever imprinted itself with indelible ink on the pages of my memory. There were tears in my eyes when I whispered to my wife, ‘I don’t think I’ve ever been this close to Him before.’
“I wish I knew then what I have discerned since — that God will leave our worship services full and satisfied only when we begin to leave them feeling hungrier for Him than when we first came.”
So how are we to give God the thanks He deserves? We are to “enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise” (Psalm 100:4).
We are to “rejoice with those who said, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord’” (Psalm 122:1).
We are to “speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:19).
“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess His name” (Hebrews 13:5).
It boils down to this: we cannot give God the thanks He deserves unless we worship Him the way He asks. The fourth Thursday of November is not set aside to simply gorge ourselves on turkey and football. Likewise, God does not give us our weekends just for rest and relaxation or to catch up on chores. He expects us to come together in worship.
Is there an empty, nagging hole in your life? Close it up by discovering what true Thanksgiving is about! “Happy are those who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness; they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6).
If we are truly thankful, let’s show it by meeting together with other believers to “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever!” (Psalm 136:1).
Tom Cash is the senior minister at First Church of Christ in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. He also serves as Chaplain for Hospice of the Eastern Upper Peninsula. On Facebook he is known as Yooper Pastor and Yooper Pasty.
This article originally appeared on The Sault News: An Encouraging Word: How to really give thanks
