Thanksgiving in Christian preaching emphasizes heartfelt gratitude to God for His continual blessings and redeeming love, encouraging believers to express appreciation openly and regularly (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Illustrations often use images of harvest, counting blessings, and contrasts between thankful humans and ungrateful animals to highlight the spiritual richness that comes from recognizing God's gifts (Psalm 107:1).
Gratitude focuses on blessings even amid loss or hardship.
When Matthew Henry was robbed, that very night he prayed: "I thank Thee, first, because I was never robbed before; second, because although they took my purse, they did not take my life; third, because although they took my all, it was not much; and fourth, because it was I who was robbed, and not I who robbed."
Counting blessings fosters joy and reliance on God instead of self.
"Count it all joy" (James 1:2). Count your blessings instead of your crosses; Count your gains instead of your losses. Count your joys instead of your woes; Count your friends instead of your foes. Count your smiles instead of your tears; Count your courage instead of your fears. Count your full years instead of your lean; Count your kind deeds instead of your mean. Count your health instead of your wealth; Count on God instead of yourself.
Giving humble thanks for God's gifts and Christ's redeeming love.
"Giving thanks for all things..." (Ephesians 5:20). For all the gifts that Thou dost send, For every kind and loyal friend, For prompt supply of all my need, For all that is good in word or deed, For gift of health along life's way, For strength to work from day to day- I give Thee humble thanks. For ready hands to help and cheer, For listening ears Thy voice to hear, For yielded tongue Thy love to talk, For willing feet, Thy paths to walk, For open eyes Thy Word to read, For loving heart, Thy will to heed- I give Thee humble thanks. For Christ who came from heaven above, For the cross and His redeeming love, For His mighty power to seek and save, For His glorious triumph o'er the grave. For the lovely mansions in the sky, For His blessed coming bye and bye- I give Thee humble thanks.
Some refuse to give thanks, showing spiritual blindness and foolishness.
A godly farmer was asked to dine with a well-known gentleman. While there, he asked a blessing at the table as he was accustomed to do at home. His host said jeeringly, "That is old fashioned; it is not customary nowadays for well-educated people to pray before they eat." The farmer answered that with him it was customary, but that some of those on his farm never prayed over their food. "Ah, then," said the gentleman, "they are sensible and enlightened. Who are they?" "My pigs," the farmer answered.
Expressing gratitude enriches both giver and receiver in Christian witness.
If you are grateful, say so! Thanksgiving is only half said until you have done something to show your thankfulness. A missionary to India was traveling through a city and stopped to speak to a man beside the road. He talked with the man for a time about Jesus. Then, having to travel on, he gave him a few pages of the Bible in the man's language. The Indian read them and was thrilled to learn of Jesus. To show his gratitude, the man measured the footprints left by the missionary, and made a pair of moccasins. He then traveled 200 miles to give them to the missionary as an expression of thanks. The missionary's life was enriched by the gift, but the Indian man was much more enriched because he had expressed his thanks. Have you ever tried to give 200 miles of thanks? Try it-you will be a better person because of it.
True contentment comes from accepting God's will and giving thanks in all circumstances.
One day, Johann Tauler of Strosbourg met a peasant. "God give you a good day, my friend," he greeted him. The peasant answered briskly, "I thank God I never have a bad day." Tauler, astonished, kept silent for a moment. Tauler then added, "God give you a happy life, my friend." The peasant replied composedly, "I thank God I am never unhappy." "Never unhappy!" cried Tauler bewildered, "What do you mean?" "Well," came the reply, "when it is sunshine-I thank God, when it rains-I thank God, when I have plenty-I thank God, when I am hungry-I thank God; and since God's will is my will, and whatever pleases God pleases me, why should I say that I am unhappy when I am not?" Tauler looked upon him with awe. "Who are you," he asked. "I am a king," said the peasant. "A king?" Tauler asked, "Where is your kingdom?" The peasant smiled and whispered softly, "In my heart." Their Money Is Worth Rudyard Kipling at one time was so popular that his writings were getting ten shillings per word. A few college students, however, did not appreciate Kipling's writings; they facetiously sent him a letter and enclosed ten shillings. It read, "Please, send us your best word." They got back a letter from Kipling that said, "Thanks." The Art of Thanksgiving The art of thanksgiving is thanksliving. It is gratitude in action. It is thanking God for the gift of life by living it triumphantly. It is thanking God for your talents and abilities by accepting them as obligations to be invested for the common good. It is thanking God for all that men and women have done for you by doing things for others. It is thanking God for happiness by striving to make others happy. It is thanking God for beauty by helping to make the world more beautiful. It is thanking God for inspiration by trying to be an inspiration to others. It is thanking God for health and strength by the care and respect you show your body. The Best Thanksgiving Day As we gather 'round our firesides On this new Thanksgiving Day, Time would fail to count the blessings That have followed all our way; Grace sufficient, help and healing, Prayer oft answered at our call; And the best of all our blessings, Christ Himself, our all in all. While we love to "count the blessings," Grateful for the year that's gone, Faith would sweep a wider vision, Hope would gaze yet further on. For the signals all around us Seem with one accord to say, "Christ is coming soon to bring us Earth's last, best Thanksgiving Day!"
We should thank God daily, not just one day a year.
Charles Dickens said that we are somewhat mixed up here in America. He told an audience that instead of having one Thanksgiving Day each year we should have 364. "Use that one day just for complaining and griping," he said. "Use the other 364 days to thank God each day for the many blessings He has showered upon you."
All blessings ultimately come from God, deserving our continual thanks.
(Psalms 100:4) "I do not have to thank anyone for anything I have," an old miser grumbled. "Everything I have I got the hard way-by the sweat of my own brow." "But who gave you the sweat?" asked his neighbor. The old miser hung his head in guilty silence. He could not ignore the fact that God had given the "sweat," the strength to work hard and gain material wealth. Yes, everything that we are or that we possess is because of God's lovingkindness. Therefore, it is good for us all to pause at least once a year and say, "Thank You, God." Actually, everyday should be one of thanksgiving. Why? Because of spiritual and material blessings. Mrs. Green thanked Tom, the grocery boy, for delivering a loaf of bread. "Do not thank me. Thank Grocer Jones," Tom smiled. "He gave me the loaf to deliver." But when she thanked the grocer, he said, "I get the bread from Baker Brown. He makes it, so he deserves the thanks." So Mrs. Green thanked the baker. But he told her that Miller Milligan should be given the gratitude. "Without Miller Milligan's flour, I could not make bread," Brown replied. The miller told her to thank Farmer Foster because he made the flour from Foster's wheat. But the farmer also protested, "Don't thank me; thank God," Foster said. "If He did not give my farm sunshine and rain, I could not grow wheat." Yes, even a common loaf of bread can be traced back to God, the Giver of "every good and perfect gift" (Joshua 1:17).
Recognizing God's provision brings joy even in poverty.
A poverty-stricken woman was found on Christmas Day eating a dinner that consisted of a piece of bread and a small fish. A minister who visited her spoke commiseratingly of the poverty of her fare, to which the old woman with face aglow, replied, "Poor fare? Dear heart, don't you see that the Lord has laid tribute on land and sea to feed me this blessed Christmas Day?" This woman owned the earth, though she ate only bread and herring for Christmas dinner.
People often complain in hardship but fail to remember past blessings with gratitude.
The crop once failed, and famine threatened the people. This gave rise to general complaints, both in town and country; so that two men rarely met without manifesting their despondency, and expressing themselves in most unbecoming terms. Gotthold thereupon observed: "I am now sensible of the truth of the proverb, which says, that, if God were to be so complacent as to carry us on his back to Rome, we would not thank him for his pains, if he did not also set us down upon an easy-chair. How comes it to pass, that, in the present dearth, there are so few who thankfully reflect upon the rich and plentiful seasons of which we have had so long a succession? I cannot recollect of having then heard nearly so much praise and thanksgiving for the abundance of the divine blessing, as I now hear complaints on account of its deficiency."
People often receive many mercies from God but remain unthankful and insensitive.
Selfishness of. As the Dead Sea drinks in the River Jordan, and is never the sweeter; and the ocean all other rivers, and is never the fresher: so we are apt to receive daily mercies from God, and still remain insensible of them, unthankful for them. God's mercies to us are like the dew on the fleece. We are like fishermen's weeds, — wide at that end which lets in the fish, but narrow at the other end, so that they cannot get out again; greedy to get mercy, tenacious to hold it. The rain comes down from heaven in showers: it goes up but in mists. We sow in our land one measure, and receive ten; yea, Isaac received a hundred-fold: but God sows ten, it may be, a hundred mercies amongst us, when we scarce return the praise and the fruit of one. Our hearts, in this case, are like the windows of the temple, — "wide inside" to let in mercies, but "narrow outward" to let forth praises. Ep. Reynolds.
Past kindnesses glow in memory like mountain peaks above darkness and trials.
Among the Alps, when the day is done, and twilight and darkness are creeping over fold and hamlet in the valleys below, Mont Rosa and Mont Blanc rise up above the darkness, catching from the retreating sun something of his light, flushed with rose-color, exquisite beyond all words or pencil or paint, glowing like the gate of heaven. And so past favors and kindnesses lift themselves up in the memory of noble natures; and, long after the lower parts of life are darkened by neglect or selfishness or anger, former loves, high up above all clouds, glow with divine radiance, and seem to forbid the advance of night any farther. Beecher.
We should praise God at the first sign of His mercies, not delay our thanksgiving.
We should echo in our thankfulness the first intimation that God gives in his providence of an approaching mercy. If you do but hear when the king is on his road towards your town, you raise your bells to ring him in, and stay not till he be entered the gates. The birds they rise betimes in the morning, and are saluting the rising sun with their sweet notes in the air. Thus should we strike up our harps in praising God at the first appearance of a mercy. Gurnall.
Early settlers chose a day of thanksgiving over fasting to remember God's mercies.
Dr. Franklin says, that, in a time of great despondency among the first settlers of New England, it was proposed in one of their public assemblies to proclaim a fast. An old farmer arose, spoke of their provoking heaven with their complaints, reviewed their mercies, showed that they had much to be thankful for, and moved, that, instead of appointing a day of fasting, they should appoint a day of thanksgiving. This was accordingly done, and the custom has been continued ever since.
Placing stones on a path symbolizes a vow or thanksgiving, like Jacob's pillar.
We ascended on the north-west side, winding round the foot of the rock, and making our way through narrow and intricate paths. I remarked, that our old guide every here and there placed a stone on a conspicuous bit of rock, or two stones one upon the other, at the same time uttering some words, which I learnt were a prayer for our safe return. This explained to me what I had frequently seen before in the East, and particularly on a high road leading to a great town, whence the town is first seen, and where the Eastern traveller sets up his stone accompanied by a devout exclamation, as it were in token of his safe arrival. The action of our guide appears to illustrate the vow which Jacob made when he travelled to Padan-Aran, in token of which he placed a stone, and set it up for a pillar. A stone on the road placed in this position, or one stone upon another, implies that some traveller has there made a vow or a thanksgiving. Morier.
Everything we make is available for free because of a generous community of supporters.
Donate