THANKSGIVING: to Whom, for What?

Thanksgiving weekend officially marks the beginning of the Holiday Season.  First we give thanks, and then we jump into a rush of Christmas shopping while anticipating a New Year.

Yes, another year is quickly winding down.

But apart from those for whom Thanksgiving and the Holiday Season is a nice excuse for overeating, excessive partying, and binge drinking, to whom and for what are we exactly giving thanks?

To give thanks to someone is to acknowledge indebtedness.  You received something, were given something that was not owed to you, something unearned by you, and therefore something that the giver was not obliged to give to you.

This is especially poignant and meaningful when the thing given was very much needed or wanted by you, but was neither within your own power to obtain nor something you truly deserved.  It can be humbling.

Few of us relish such indebtedness—to be obliged to a gift-giver for something we could never have gotten on our own.  It means that the gift-giver has the superior position, has the greater privilege or power or status over us.  It means that we feel dependent, needy, and wanting.  In such a position as that, we have a choice of either being secretly resentful or truly grateful to the gift-giver.  Which is it, for you?

This is what Thanksgiving is really about—giving thanks to that Someone who has the superior position, the greater power and authority over us, that someone to whom we owe our very lives: “The God who made the world and everything in it, He who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things.” [Acts 17:24-25]

So how do we give proper thanks to God?

First we simply acknowledge our indebtedness to God’s mercy and grace.  Without God’s merciful ways upon our lives, we’d have nothing, be nothing, and do nothing of significance: “In Him we live and move and have our being.” [Acts 17:28]  Without God’s grace upon us, we’d have no hope of God’s forgiveness let alone His kindness and goodness over us: “For by grace you have been saved, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—not the result of works, so that no one may boast.”  [Ephesians 2:8-9]

Secondly, understand that it is not a right but a gift.  God owes us nothing.  We owe God everything.  God’s gift to us is exactly that: A gift!—unearned, undeserved, and unattainable on our own.

Thirdly, we give back to God our indebtedness of honor and respect to Him and we do so with our very own lives.  We live and act and do in such a way that we honor Him, glorify Him, and demonstrate true gratitude to Him for what He has done and continues to do for us: “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.”  [1 Corinthians 10:31]

Have a good and happy THANKSGIVING!