Thanksgiving! The time of the year when we celebrate family, friends, food, football, and fellowship. I frequently say that “it’s like the best day of my life every year” because the food is so good, and the fellowship is even better!

You may be familiar with the story of the first Thanksgiving when the “Pilgrims and Indians” gathered together to give thanks for a bountiful harvest in 1621. It is speculated that the Pilgrims would not have survived that first harsh winter in the New World if they had not had the expert assistance of the Native Americans to plant crops and hunt the local game. George Washington was the first president to call a national day of thanksgiving, but it was Lincoln who made it an official holiday in 1863, declaring the last Thursday of November to be Thanksgiving Day.

But stop for a moment and consider that word: thanksgiving. It is an active word; one which anticipates an object of that thanks. So, who are we giving thanks to? Ourselves? Each other? For a follower of Christ it should be clear that our thanksgiving is much more than an expression of satisfaction with our current situation. Indeed, if our current situation is less than desirable… in Christ we still have much to be thankful for!

Scripture sets a clear example for us of what it means to have a heart of thanksgiving. Psalm 100 says that we should “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”

Thanksgiving is based on the character and faithfulness of God himself. It is not dependent on our circumstances or the fulfillment of our desires. Even in moments of greatest need, we give thanks to God.

What a witness this can be! At this time of year when we’re engrossed in food and football, and December lurks around the corner to turn our attention to shopping… we are thankful for one thing above all: the faithfulness of God through the work of Jesus Christ.

He who thanks but with the lips
Thanks but in part;
The full, the true Thanksgiving
Comes from the heart.

~J.A. Shedd