20 Nov 3 Ways to Put More “Thanks” in Thanksgiving This Year
This Thursday is the 397th year since the first Thanksgiving was celebrated in the United States. It is a day of remembrance and gratitude to God for His providential blessing in the founding of our nation, as well as his sovereign aid in its ongoing development.
Its roots are thoroughly Christian and stem from the biblical values of gratitude and thankfulness seen throughout Scripture. For that reason, it is appropriate for Christians to cultivate thankfulness and gratitude to God for the blessings of living in America, as well as being children of God, as we celebrate with family and friends on Thanksgiving Day.
There are three ways to put more “thanks” in Thanksgiving this year.
#1. Remember the Story
The experience of the first permanent settlers from England to the United States was harrowing. Cold and disease decimated the first shipload that first winter.
The survivors made it the next year, thanks in large part to the friendship and assistance of Squanto, a Native American who had been abducted as a slave years before by English explorers and taken to Europe. In the process, he learned English and later escaped to return to North America and resume is previous life.
Without his assistance, which the settlers considered divine provision, it is doubtful that the settlers would have survived another year.
In reviewing the written record of these events, we see that the colonists prayed fervently for the Lord’s deliverance during the early years and considered that their survival was directly attributable to prayer and the Lord’s intervention.
Two years after the Mayflower landed on Plymouth Rock, in response to the Lord’s blessings, the colonists and friendly Native Americans celebrated the first Thanksgiving, a three-day celebration in 1621 involving games, races, bow-and-arrow competitions, and of course, feasting on the bounty of the fall harvest which they attributed to divine intervention.
Thankfulness to God was the motivation for the first Thanksgiving, and stands as an example to us to nurture a spirit of prayer and thanksgiving for all God’s blessings.
Recognizing and remembering that the colonists survived, not because of good luck but providential provision, accentuates the role of prayer and God’s blessing, and helps us cultivate thankfulness this Thanksgiving.
#2. Respect the History
The idea of a day of Thanksgiving stayed alive for 128 years, at which time President George Washington issued a presidential proclamation naming November 26, 1789, as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer. In it he said:
Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, [I] recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God.”
However, Thanksgiving did not become a regular national holiday in the United States until the fall of 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring that the last Thursday in November would be a day of national thanksgiving.
Lincoln acknowledged God’s blessings on the United States, which are “so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come,” and enjoined the nation to “set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.”
Even then, the day was not officially a national holiday. It was observed by custom. Finally, in 1941 Congress sent a bill to Franklin Roosevelt who signed it, officially establishing the fourth Thursday as a national holiday. It has been observed as such since then.
Tracing this history illuminates the powerful national interest in this holiday. In recent years, it has become largely secularized, devoted to nostalgia, football and family gatherings. However, Christians can nurture a spirit of thankfulness this Thanksgiving by respecting the history of the day throughout our national experience.
#3. Recall the Scriptures
Finally, Christians can increase thankfulness this Thanksgiving by recalling what the Scriptures teach about thankfulness. There are 5 powerful verses of Scripture enjoining believers to cultivate a spirit and habit of thankfulness to God for His blessings.
- Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting and His faithfulness to all generations. Psalm 100:4-5
- Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Philippians 4:6.
- Let the peace of Christ rule your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Colossians 3:15
- O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His lovingkindness is everlasting. 1 Chronicles 16:34
- Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen. Revelation 7:12
As Christians recall the Scriptures that call us to thanksgiving, it can help us increase thankfulness this Thanksgiving.
Conclusion
C.S. Lewis once wrote, “We ought to give thanks for all fortune: if it is good, because it is good; if bad, because it works in us patience, humility and the contempt of this world and the hope of our eternal country.
So at this season, we can use these three ways to put more “Thanks” in Thanksgiving this year, knowing that God causes all things to work together for our good (Romans 8:28).
So, with a view toward growing in our thankfulness and gratitude toward God, I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!
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