Therefore, by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. Hebrews 13:15
It is that time of year again when our nation takes a day to express thanks for the abundant blessings we enjoy every day. Loved ones will gather to feast, pray together, reminisce, watch football, play cornhole, go back for seconds and thirds and so on, fall asleep on the couch, and a host of other joyful traditions. Though there have been periods of difficulty in our nation and not everyone enjoys the same degree of comfort, compared to the bulk of nations in recorded human history we have consistently lived high on the proverbial hog. There is so much for which to be thankful, but it is also easy to take these blessings for granted and forget the God to whom we are to give thanks. To guard against this, we ought to turn Thanksgiving into Thanksliving.
While I appreciate a national day set aside for giving thanks, Christians must live every day giving thanks. This includes our physical, temporal blessings, but the primary cause for giving thanks is our spiritual, eternal blessings in Christ. Unlike those who reject His reign in their lives, even death does not ultimately spell defeat for the child of God (1 Corinthians 15:50-58; Hebrews 2:14-15). Nonetheless, we are not immune to the tendencies to become ungrateful or to “forget” God in our times of comfort. For this, God has prescribed a posture of thanksgiving and remembrance.
Thankfulness is to be the default disposition of a Christian, not just a reaction to blissful circumstances. This was the expectation of the nation of Israel (Deuteronomy 8:10; 1 Chronicles 16:8, 34-35, 41; Psalms 9:1; 28:7; 100:1-4; 107:21-22; 136:1-3; etc.). This is the expectation of the Lord’s church (2 Corinthians 4:15; Ephesians 5:4, 20; Philippians 4:6; Colossians 3:15-17; 1 Thessalonians 5:18; 2 Thessalonians 1:3; 2:13; Hebrews 13:15; etc.). These commandments, like every other commandment God gives, are for our benefit to promote faithfulness which leads to godliness ending in salvation (Deuteronomy 6:24-25; 10:13; Jeremiah 32:39; Hebrews 12:6-11).
Such an attitude of gratitude helps guard our hearts against temptation. Though Satan uses many devices to tempt us, is it not the case that we surrender to those temptations out of a sense of wanting or lacking something? If God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3), what could Satan offer us that we think could possibly add abundance to our lives? James 1:13-15 details the slide into sin in plain language as it is the result of following our wrongly placed desires. John warned that the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life are what leads to our spiritual destruction (1 John 2:15-17). It was not until Satan convinced Eve that she was lacking something that she ate of the forbidden fruit and brought a curse upon the whole created order (Genesis 3:1-6). Thankful hearts are contented hearts, and contented hearts are less prone to temptation (1 Corinthians 6:6-10; Hebrews 13:5).
To maintain these thankful hearts, we must always remember the giver of all good gifts (James 1:17). In Deuteronomy 8:1-18, Moses warned the Israelites against the danger of forgetfulness. God was about to deliver them to the promised land. This land was one of great abundance often described as a land flowing with milk and honey (Deuteronomy 8:7-10; cf. Exodus 13:5; Leviticus 20:24; Numbers 13:27; 14:8; Jeremiah 32:22). The danger was that after being delivered from slavery, provided for in the wilderness, and given this lush land they would develop a sense of self-congratulation and self-sufficiency (Deuteronomy 8:10-17). Such an attitude would lead them to turn away from God and serve other gods. Sadly, the historical record shows they did not heed this warning, got comfortable, forgot God, and destroyed themselves. We face the same danger in our land flowing with milk and honey today, so let us celebrate Thanksliving as we continually praise His name (Hebrews 13:15).