Whenever I heard or read anything about thankfulness when I was younger, especially around college age, the yawns would come. This was because I understood thankfulness, and as such didn’t feel that there was anything to be learned or gleaned from further articles on it. Since I am only one person I can’t speak for others, and certainly no one would admit to being bored with thankfulness; but I suspect I am not alone in this.
Of all the truths, commands, and attitudes presented to us in the Bible, I think thankfulness is one of the most universally well understood. People know what it is to be thankful. It is profoundly simplistic.
This article is not presenting anything people don’t generally know about thankfulness. In fact I would have to either get uselessly technical, or just make stuff up in order to tell you something most people don’t know about the act of thankfulness.
Rather this post is on the reasons for and effects of thankfulness. Specifically in light of the fact that while people still give lip service to thankfulness (especially around Thanksgiving), it is fading out as a way of life.
Why Should We Be Thankful?
1. We have been given things
There are people who have done things for us, and have given things to us. Our parents, friends, even many of our acquaintances, have been kind to us, patient with our faults, and generous with their time and resources. Of course there are many who have not. The world is filled with selfishness and with selfish people. However, this does not in any way negate the good some have shown to us. In a way, it should only serve to highlight it.
These people are as important as you or I am. Their time and effort is as important as ours. They have chosen to pour some of themselves and their resources into us, and it is only proper that we respond by acknowledging and honoring those efforts.
These things happen in larger or smaller ways all the time. A thankful person sees and recognizes other people and their efforts. Gratitude is a posture of respecting others.
There is a God who has done great things for us, and has given great things to us. God created us, out of no need or insufficiency of his own, and placed the first couple into an idealistic setting. When humankind rebelled against their creator, God set into motion his preconceived plan for redeeming our fallen race.
God loved people to such a degree, that he suffered personal loss and torment by sending his Son Jesus to die in the place of sinners, taking the punishment of sin and the sting of death upon himself.[i] Christ died and was raised to life in order to provide a way for us.[ii] Now those who believe are pardoned of sin, making peace with God;[iii] as well as being placed “into” Christ, being given spiritual life and gifts, and becoming co-heirs of all Jesus Christ earned for us.[iv]
As humans, we continue to receive the common grace of God. This comes in the form of provisions and pleasures of nature, as well as special acts of God to occasionally rescue us from the results of sin working in the world.
As believers, we have received special grace. God has reached down and rescued us in our pitiful and helpless state of spiritual depravity and death. He has raised us up to life and light. He has given us gifts, and bought for us both a pardon from sin and a future with God.[v]
All of this is done for us without any worthiness on our end. And what God desires in return is glory. That is, God desires credit for what he has done. Our thankfulness is not only appropriate, but it is a large part of God’s overall purpose of glorifying himself. This is because our thankfulness is a simple acknowledgement of all the wonders God has done, and our appreciation for them.
2. We are not alone
Thankfulness fosters a proper sense of esteem. By this I mean that being thankful to other people for gifts given, time spent, or services rendered is not only the proper response, it is a response that helps us respect and appreciate people. As I said above, gratitude is a posture of respecting others.
God has placed us into the context of communities (families, churches, jobs, neighborhoods, cities). These are the people we must interact with, and we must have a view that responds to and values people other than ourselves. No man is an island. We must reach out and make a positive impact in lives around us, and acknowledge others when they do the same for us.
As a side note, this also means we must be willing to accept gifts and kindnesses. There is a grace in letting others serve you and simply saying “thank you.” On the other hand, there is an egocentric awkwardness in those who refuse to be helped. Lastly, there is a reprehensible delusion of superiority in those who accept service and render no acknowledgement or gratitude in return.
3. We are dependent
Paul asks a very pointed question of the believers at Corinth. Do we as Christians have anything we were not given?[vi] Do we have anything we earned, or conjured up with our own will or effort, or does God owe us anything? No. We have been given all Christ has purchased for us, and we deserve none of it.
After the question is answered, the text hits us with the only valid application of this – act like it! Do not go around in arrogance and self-satisfied righteousness, as if you did anything to earn your position in Christ. Don’t insist on competing on an imagined point system. None of us have any points in this regard. We have all been given Jesus’ score. This manifests itself in two main ways: (1) not looking down on other people, and (2) being thankful to God.
This is why all Christians should be characterized by an ongoing thankfulness. The simple act of thankfulness is in reality a profound acknowledgment of what God has done for us, as well as our dependence upon God. We have nothing (physically or spiritually) that we have not been given.
Acknowledging our dependency upon God and his gifts instils humility in us; and God draws near to the humble while being repulsed by pride.[vii] We must be humble if we desire to experience the nearness of God; and if we are thankful in any genuine way, we will be humbled.
Under Grace,
John Fritz
John Fritz is the Volunteer Coordinator for Thoughtful Life Ministries and the primary author of the Thoughtful Life Journal, which is published weekly from March through September. The purpose of this blog is to challenge and encourage those who have a desire to cultivate a more meaningful walk with Christ. Visit our Homepage to learn more about the ministry and our annual two-week summer Discipleship Program for teens and young adults.
[i] John 3:13-18; 1 Cor. 15:55-57 [ii] 1 Cor. 15:3-4; John 14:6 [iii] Rom. 5:1-2 [iv] Eph. 1:3-14 [v] Eph. 2:1-10 [vi] 1 Cor. 4:7 [vii] James 4:6; Prov. 3:34