Some Thoughts On Thanksgiving

By Chris Bates

I’ll have to admit…Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. It’s a great time of sharing in the joy and love of family and there’s very little “commercialization” to consume one’s attention. Americans typically use this day to enjoy being with relatives that perhaps they otherwise do not see as much as they would like, and to enjoy the favorite American “thanksgiving pastime” of football. Too, thoughts reflect on the freedoms that we enjoy as Americans and the difficult roads that those before us traveled so that we might enjoy what has come to be known as “the great experiment in self-government.”

But for the Christian this “reflection” is on a much more serious level. His “thanks” centers around spiritual things more so than the physical joys of this life. To be sure, among men there should be no more thankful person on earth than the Christian. In this article we consider some things for which the Christian should be thankful, not only on this holiday of “Thanksgiving,” but every day he is blessed to live on earth.

The Christian Should Be Thankful For The Peace Of God

The apostle Paul penned, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful” (Col. 3:15). The Christian realizes that he was once lost and alienated from God, having been separated from Him by sin. The Ephesians saints were made to see, “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world…” (Eph. 2:1 & 2). But once the sinner responds to the call of the gospel of Christ (2 Thes. 2:14) by obeying the gospel, he is then rescued “…from the domain of darkness, and transferred into the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Col. 1:13). Having escaped the prison of sin, the Christian can rejoice and be thankful for the peace he enjoys with God, as the Romans also surely did – “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…” (Rom. 5:1). Indeed, we should be thankful for the peace with God which comes to us by His love and His grace, a peace of which we are not worthy.

The Christian Should Be Thankful For Being In The Body Of Christ

Imagine the great honor it would be to be invited to spend personal time with an important figure to our culture, even with the President of the United States. Few people will ever know such a distinct honor. But consider the much greater honor of being “in Christ,” and for that matter, in His body (the church – Col. 1:18). Again we read in the Colossian letter, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful” (Col. 3:15). Jesus gave His life so that we might be saved from sin and the “place” of salvation is in His body, the church. We read in the Ephesian letter concerning Christ and His body, “…as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the savior of the body” (Eph. 5:23). Thus, to be saved is to be in the body of Christ and to be in the body of Christ is to be saved. The price that was paid for us to be added to the church of Christ was that of the very life of Jesus. We read in Acts 20:28 that Jesus purchased the church with His own blood. To be in the church, the blood-bought family of Jesus Christ, is surely a great blessing for which we ought to be thankful!

The Christian Should Be Thankful For His Calling

We noted above that one is called by the gospel of Christ (2 Thes. 2:14). This is not a “mystical” sort of call that is “better felt than told.” It is the call of God to man to come to Him. This “call” is done by the gospel! Those who answer the call of the gospel by doing simply what those in the first century did in order to be saved enjoy every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Eph. 1:3). But not only are we called by the gospel to come to the Lord, the only source for man’s salvation, but we are called to a particular way of life. In the book of Titus we read, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds” (Tit. 2:11-14). Surely the Christian knows what an honor it is to serve the Lord and should most certainly do his best to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which he has been called” (Eph. 4:1). Indeed, this calling is a “high calling” which has the prize of eternal life as the end result. Paul writes, “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14 & 15). We are able to attain to that “high calling of God” and for this we should most definitely be thankful!

The Christian Should Be Thankful For Prayer

Prayer, while a command (1 Thes. 5:17), is also a spiritual blessing available to the Christian. The sinner has no assurance that he will be heard in his prayer to God, for the Scripture says, “We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him” (John 9:31). The Christian, then, has the promise of God that he will be heard when he asks those things of God that are in harmony with His will (1 John 5:14 & 15). It is an amazing blessing indeed that we, as Christians, can pray to the heavenly Father. Whatever the petition may be, whatever the intercession, or should it be praise and thanksgiving offered to God in prayer, the Christian has the assurance that God hears him. The Philippians were commanded, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Phil. 4:6). While it is true that not every request we make of God will be granted to us, we do know that He hears us and we know that He will give us what is best and what is most needed at the moment. Christians, and this writer included, must learn that sometimes the answer to our prayers is “no.” We cannot gauge the answer of God concerning our prayers by whether or not that for which we ask comes to pass. We must trust that “…God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28). And it is in prayer where the Christian also confesses his sins to God and can be comforted with the knowledge that God hears this prayer and grants forgiveness to His penitent child (1 John 1:9). Let us be thankful to God for prayer!