Thanks Be To God
Christian Gratitude Over the World’s Platitudes
On Thanksgiving Day, the country pauses to feast, celebrate, and give thanks. It is evidence of the Imago Dei that the human heart is compelled to express thanks even though we, “by our unrighteousness suppress the truth” (Rom 1:18). Even the fool who says in his heart there is no God still feels obliged to express thanks even if he must do so to the void (Ps 14:1). Hundreds of thousands of Americans will gather around their tables of Turkey. They will be thankful, though they do not know the one to whom they owe thanks.
The sun rises on every human creature, and the Lord graciously sends rain on the just and the unjust (Matt 5:45). His common grace shows abundant kindness even to humanity in rebellion. Every person ought to express gratitude for God’s provision. But even when the blind creature of man knows not where to direct his gratitude, the impulse to express gratitude bears witness that God’s existence is plainly revealed, just abhorrently suppressed by sinful hearts.
While the world offers its vanity of platitudes and ambiguous gratitude, Christian thankfulness must be specific and concrete. We offer our thanks not to an arbitrary universe nor to some dubious deity but to the Triune God revealed by Scripture—God the Father, the creator of heaven and earth; God the Son, the Lord Jesus who came down for us humans and for our salvation; and God the Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life. And from this Triune God, all our blessings flow—blessings of food and shelter, family and friends, sunlight and rain, pleasure and laughter. While we relish in all the provisions the Lord provides to all his human creatures, by far the most glorious of gifts is the salvation of our souls through Jesus Christ.
As those beloved recipients of God’s salvation, we have infinite reasons to offer thanks. While the world gives thanks for bread, we give thanks for the Bread of Life. While the world gives thanks for the rays of the sun, we give thanks for the Light of the World. While the world gives thanks for the hydration of water, we give thanks for the Living Water welling up in our souls to eternal life. While the world gives thanks for its companions, we give thanks to Jesus who has called us his friends. While the world gives thanks for family, we give thanks for the undeserved grace of being adopted into the family of God. All that those in Adam have to be thankful for, those in Christ have all the more. And what that old humanity failed to express, those made into the image of the new man must rightly pour out in adulation thanksgiving to God.
May the joy of the gospel fill our hearts today with thankfulness to God. As we enjoy the feast of the Lord’s provision with our family and friends, may we express our thanks to our God. As we ponder the wretchedness of our hearts and the power of Christ’s salvation we’ve received by faith, may we say with all adulation, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom 7:25).