Turkey time and smashing idols

I get it, we have to give thanks
This past weekend in Canada we celebrated Thanksgiving. It is, among several things, an opportunity to gather with loved ones, eat scrumptious feasts, and, if people actually remember, give thanks. Sadly, many people fail to use this holiday to take stock of what they have and express thankfulness to those around them. For the non-believer this isn’t too surprising, as they attempt to deny God’s existence and reject His Word. However, for the follower of Jesus, a failure to be thankful is a failure to obey one of the most basic and most repeated commands in the Scriptures.

Depending on which English version of the Bible you use, you will see an example or command to give thanks/thanksgiving some 75 times, praise and thanks/thanksgiving tied together some 30 times, offerings of thanks/thanksgiving some 10 times, and other mentions of thanksgiving some 40 times. Suffice it to say that the Lord is not shy about giving us examples of and commanding us to be thankful. And not just some of the time; no, God expects us to be regularly and sincerely thankful.

In Colossians 3:15-16 the Apostle Paul writes, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” In Ephesians 5:20, Paul has a similar command as in Colossians 3:16, except he writes this: “Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Just in case I haven’t been clear, the Lord expects us to be regularly and sincerely thankful.


The bitter god of self
There are a few reasons the command to be thankful is so clear and consistent. However, I want to focus on one that, while often unconsidered, I believe is at the heart of this requirement. It addresses idolatry, and most uncomfortably, it is a direct assault on the human proclivity to seat oneself upon the throne and to rule and reign over one’s life.

To be thankful is to be content. Not just content in general, but in every specific way imaginable. A thankful person is content with how God has created them to be – body, mind, and soul. A thankful person is content with their lot in life – their talents, possessions, physical appearance, and socio-cultural position/status. A thankful person is content with what God has sovereignly brought into their lives – joys and sorrows, blessings and sufferings, abundance and loss. A thankful person is content to see others succeed and prosper without the bitter seed of envy taking root and producing the fruit of anger and greed.

When we are ungrateful and thankless, what we are saying with our hearts and minds (even though not necessarily with our words) is this: “God is holding out on me. God has chosen to be stingy rather than generous. God has shown that He is not kind, that He is not gracious, and that He is not good.” Now, these are grievous sins in and of themselves. And yet, there is still a deeper rot in the human heart that is exposed by thanklessness and ungratefulness.

The same persons who would accuse God are also saying (again, probably not with words) that if THEY were God, they would do a much better job of bestowing upon themselves what they deserve. It goes like this: “I deserve to have more money, more prosperity, and more blessings. If I were God, I would give myself all of the things that God has withheld from me, because I would make a better god than God Himself.” And that right there, buried deep beneath the surface of a thankless heart, deeper than perhaps we or others understand, is a blasphemous idolatry that worships a false god – the weak and pathetic god of self.

The battle for thanksgiving
This is one of the primary reasons God commands us to be thankful, so that we might put the god of self to death in our lives. God will not share our deepest affections with an idol. God is jealous for our deepest affections and will not share them with an idol, especially the idol of our own god-complex. He wants to smash this idol into a million pieces, and He knows that thankfulness is the right hammer for the job. God wants us to deepen our trust in His perfect providence. He wants to cultivate peace and joy in our souls. He wants to remove us from the throne so that King Jesus may sit upon it and rule and reign in our lives.

Pursuing a thankful heart is how all of this is accomplished. I use the word pursuing intentionally. You won’t wake up one morning and stumble into being thankful. It’s a process. It requires persistence. It’s a daily pursuit. It is a battle which takes strength and resolve. This is why the Scriptures command thankfulness as often as they do, to remind us of how much work it takes to cultivate a grateful spirit within us.

An entire tome could be written on what it looks like to pursue thankfulness. To get you started, and for the sake of time, I’ll give you three directives. First, get your eyes on the Word of God regularly and intentionally. When we see God providing for His people, being faithful without fail, and keeping His promises and covenants, we know that He has given us exactly what we need to do what He has commanded us to do. If we needed more, God not only could have but also would have given it to us. God is lacking neither in power, nor in kindness, nor in resources.

Second, take honest stock of what you do have.  Include the littlest of things in your inventory. Did you wake up this morning? Do your eyes work? Can you move your limbs? How about your fingers and toes? Can you breathe without a ventilator? Do you have food and clothing? If you were to count all of the good and gracious gifts that have been given to you by an infinitely generous God, you would die before you could list them all.

Third, think of what God has chosen to withhold from you. Are you still dead in your sins and trespasses? Are you still an object of wrath? Are you destined for hell? Are you still guilty? Are you still separated from God? If God in His mercy has made it so these are not a part of your reality, and if you ponder them regularly enough, you will be full of thanksgiving. You will see thankfulness grow as you water the soil with remembrances of God’s mercy toward you – yes, even a wretch as you once were.

If you neglected to take the time to express your thankfulness to God and others this past weekend, there is still time. In fact, there is time every day, and that’s exactly what the goal should be. “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18