A Lifestyle of Thanksgiving

This week, the people of the United States of America celebrated their annual Thanksgiving Day holiday.

In November 1621, following their first successful corn harvest, the Plymouth colonists from England invited the Native American Wampanoag people to share a celebratory feast which is acknowledged as the first Thanksgiving celebration in the colonies.

For Christians, Thanksgiving should be more than an end-of-November feast – it should be a lifestyle. Thanksgiving for Christians should mean that we maintain an attitude of gratitude towards God every day.

It is more than just saying “thank you.”

Acknowledging God and His blessings, and giving thanks is deeply rooted in the Christian faith.
Throughout the Bible, we are encouraged to give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for us. (1 Thess 5:18)

The first thanksgiving feast we see in the Bible is mentioned in Deuteronomy, called The Feast of Weeks where God instructed the Israelites to establish a thanksgiving festival to honour the Lord.

More applicable to us today is The Lord’s Supper – a Christian custom that commemorates Jesus’ final meal with his disciples and is a central act of Christian worship.
It is a ‘meal’ of remembrance and hope with an underlying expression of thankfulness for the saving death and resurrection of Christ.

By remembering what Jesus did for us, our lives are grounded in his finished work for us.
It isn’t a way you can earn your salvation; it is a thanksgiving meal for those who are saved. It doesn’t add anything to the finished work of Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice but confirms it and strengthens us in him.

Because of all that it is, we come to the Lord’s Supper with both humility and joy as God’s dearly loved children to be reminded of who we are in Christ.
To be strengthened by him as we meet with him by faith, and to whet our appetite for that day when we will enjoy with our Saviour the ultimate Thanksgiving Day feast.

Sandee Batelic