A PROPER PERSPECTIVE ON THANKSGIVING

This Thursday is Thanksgiving. One day in which we like those early Pilgrims set aside time in our busy schedules to give thanks to God. Now, there is nothing wrong with that but the word of God tells us that this should be a continual, daily, attitude.

Eph. 5:19,20 tells Christians to "Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." I Thes. 5:16-18 says, "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."

Paul’s main subject here is praise, thanksgiving. Notice the other important words in these passages; always, continually, and in all circumstances. It sounds as if Paul is talking about a church service here, especially in Eph. "Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart..." But he isn’t. He is talking about a continual attitude for Christians, an attitude of the heart. How we are to be to each other. But how, you may wonder, can we have this attitude continually, especially "in all circumstances?" I believe the answer lies in our perspective of thanksgiving. We need the proper perspective.

To be thankful in all circumstances, we need a proper perspective of our circumstances and of God. Only then we will be able to give thanks to the Lord always.

There are three attitudes that steal away our gratitude. Three things that keep us from being thankful.

1. One is our pride. This is the attitude that says, "Nobody ever gave me anything, I worked hard for everything I have." For years you studied hard and now it is finally paying off. With this kind of attitude, we feel that we have no one to thank but ourselves.

2. Another attitude that keeps us from being thankful is a critical spirit or constant complaining. Instead of being grateful, this person will always find something to complain about.

3. A third attitude that keeps us from being grateful is carelessness. Someone once said that if the stars only came out once a year, we would stay out all night to watch them. But they are there every night and we have grown accustomed to them. 

The Israelites grumbled because they had no food so God miraculously sent manna to feed them. Then they started to grumble because it was the same thing every day. They had a miracle straight from God every day but were no longer satisfied. Because of pride, carelessness or a critical spirit we will never be truly thankful for all that God has given us.

Thanks is one word that is too seldom heard and too rarely spoken and too often forgotten. If we would all adopt an attitude of thanksgiving into our lives, our lives would be changed. We would savor each day.

If any nation ought to be thankful to God and grateful for his goodness, it ought to be the United States of America. If any people in America ought to be thankful to God and grateful for his goodness, it ought to be Christians. 

THANKSGIVING SHOULD BE EXPRESSED

In Luke 17 we read about ten men who were healed by Jesus of their leprosy. Out of those ten men only one came back to give thanks and Jesus said, "Where are the other nine?" He was the only one willing to take time to go back and say "thank you." Because of that Jesus said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well."

Have you ever wondered why Jesus said that? I mean like the others, the man was already healed of his leprosy from the time they went to show themselves to the priest. But when Jesus says to this one man, "Your faith has made you well," he wasn’t just talking about a physical healing, he was talking about a spiritual one, a mental one. He was made whole.

We too are made whole by our thanksgiving. Psychologists today tell us that sincere gratitude, thanksgiving, is the healthiest of all human emotions. Gratitude produces more positive emotional energy than any other attitude in life. And a thankful heart will endear others to us and us to others. For you see thanksgiving is not only good for the giver but also good for the receiver.

God appreciates our thanksgiving. It exalt Him up and it glorifies Him. And thanksgiving endears him to us. It draws us closer. If we are not grateful, if we do not express our thanksgiving, then it can have the opposite effect.

OUR THANKSGIVING IS EXPECTED

Paul says we are to "give thanks in all circumstances because this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." This is God’s will for us. And he knows, if we will do it, that our lives will be changed.

1. This is the mark of a Growing Christian

For example, a baby is ungrateful. You can take a little baby when it has colic and walk the floor with them for hours and when you put that baby down they don’t say, "thank you." More than likely, they will just yell a little louder. A child has to be taught to be thankful. It just doesn’t come naturally. Sometimes you have to almost force them to say thank you. When we realize how blessed we are by others and by God and express that, we are growing.

2. Our thanksgiving is also the mark of a Giving Christian

When we realize how much God has done for us and how much he continues to do, we should be more than happy to give something back to him. This comes through our time and also our financial giving. Someone has said that for Thanksgiving to be real Thanksgiving, there must be "Thanks" and there must be "Giving."

When we go to a restaurant, we are more than happy to give a good waitress a 15% tip, but for some reason, many have a problem with giving God 10% of all the good gifts he has given us. We need to ask ourselves if we are truly thankful. Remember God loves a cheerful giver..... Thanksgiving is a mark of a growing Christian, a giving Christian.

If you are thankful to God then you will not be constantly critical and pessimistic but eternally Thankful. Though the difficult times are just that - they will not break you.

Paul says in II Cor. 4:8, "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed but not in despair; persecuted but not abandoned; struck down but not destroyed...For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen."

Yes the Psalmist was right, ’It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord."  Have you been going through some difficult times? Have you prayed but they’re still there? Have you told yourself to keep on going and it would someday disappear - but it got deeper? Then why not try thanksgiving?