For Us Christians, Thanksgiving is Really Thanks-living

Greeting each day with thanks for another chance to live and to love is a very Christian thing to do.

The days are shorter, the nights are longer.  
The autumnal sun dances through the colored leaves – 
it’s as though God had this in mind all summer long. 

It is right, and quite natural, for us to feel a certain thankfulness for all the blessings that come our way – especially at this time of year.

Thanksgiving is one of the most universal of holidays.  
And, as you may have heard me say before, it may also be one of the most Christian.

Locked behind cell doors, Paul admonished his new Christian followers to  be thankful in all things.

For us Christians, thanksgiving is a calling. 
It is an attribute of the life we seek to live. 
It is a definition of a way of seeing ourselves in relation to our God who created us, redeems us, and sustains us through the trials and tribulations that have a way of showing up on our life-journey.

Notice, the Ten Commandments do not start with “Thou shalt not...”
But, rather with, “I am the Lord God, who brought you out of Egypt, therefore . . .” 

The entire Mosaic Law is to be followed as an act of thanksgiving.  
The basic understanding is that because God is God and enables marvelous things to happen and continues to be involved in my life and in the world around me, 
therefore, I can do nothing other than live in gratitude.

We Christians live in thanksgiving for what God has done and continues to do for us. 
For us, thanksgiving is really thanks-living.

The Psalmist could sing: This is a day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!  Greeting each day with thanks for another chance to live and to love is a very Christian thing to do.

There is a story told about a devout king who became disturbed by the ingratitude of his royal court. 
He prepared a large banquet for them.
And when the guests were seated and the sumptuous feast brought out, a beggar appeared dressed in rags and smelling of sewer. 
They watched as the brazen fellow walked right up to the table and literally pigged out.  
Stuffing turkey legs in his pockets, and eating handfuls of mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. 
It happened so quickly, and yet it seemed in slow motion.

And the tramp was gone.

The quests were furious. 
They asked permission from their host to pursue the man and tear him from limb to limb for his brazenness and ingratitude.

And then the King said,
“That beggar has done to an earthly king only what each of you do to God. 
You sit here, day after day, eating until you are satisfied.  
Then you walk away without recognizing God,
or without even expressing one word of thanks to Him.”

It is not without merit that many writers refer to ingratitude as the most basest of sins. 

Even Shakespeare could write:
I hate ingratitude more than lying, vainness, babbling, drunkenness, or taint of vice.

Thanksgiving reminds us of how much we owe to forces outside of ourselves.

It behooves us to take an inventory of our blessings and offer up thanks in all things.

This year, expand your thanksgiving thoughts to thoughts about thanks-living.