Does anyone else feel a little awkward trying to "turn on" an attitude of thanksgiving because of the calendar? To their credit, many folks have taken to "no whining" November, posting things online they are thankful for every day of the month. That, or not shaving. November is funny that way. But still, I have a little personal problem with "it's now time to be thankful."
The guilt trip ready to happen is, "Well, you should be thankful every day." True enough, but that still doesn't stir feelings of thanksgiving deep in my bones. Now I'm thankless and guilty.
Or, "count your many blessings." That's OK, too, and can help us focus more on blessing than on things - health, family, love, safety, purpose, and so on. But if I do this too often, I begin to think that it's all about me. Worse, that if my blessings are less than I think they should be, or heaven forbid, less than my neighbor's, then thankfulness is precisely what does not occur.
By no means am I transforming into Thanksgiving's version of Ebenezer Scrooge. I'm not sour to the holiday, and I do enjoy turning responsibilities aside and spending time with friends and family - especially family members who are particularly good at making pie.
But what about this attitude of thanksgiving thing? It's important enough that Scripture twice gives us the imperative "be thankful":
Col 3:15 And the peace of Christ must rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body, and be thankful.
Heb 12:27 Now the phrase “yet once more” indicates the removal of what is shaken, namely, things that have been created, in order that the things that are not shaken may remain. 28 Therefore, since we are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us be thankful, through which let us serve God acceptably, with awe and reverence.Followers of Christ are commanded to be thankful! But if following Christ is so awesome, do we really need to told to be thankful? Shouldn't we just be so overwhelmed with God's goodness that we're just thankful all the time?
In fact, we do need to be told to be thankful ... because the gravity of fallen humanity draws us away from that attitude. Being thankful is an uphill climb, not because we don't have anything to be thankful for, but because of the tendency of the flesh to wallow in self-absorbed complaining about what we covet but don't have.
How do I obey this command to be thankful, then? It won't happen by weighing the good stuff against the bad stuff. We won't be consistently thankful if we focus on ourselves and what we have.
An attitude of thanksgiving comes from knowing the goodness of God, and that He shares His goodness with us. Not just in material things, but also in His attributes. He is a loving God, and we get to participate in this good thing called "love." He is a relational God, and we get to be in relationship with Him through Christ. He is a forgiving God, and we get to give and receive forgiveness with one another. He is a just God, and we get to participate in bringing justice in this world. And so on. We have a share in the goodness of God, and that actually does keep me thankful.
Be thankful. Not just because you have stuff that poor people in Madeupistan don't have, but because God is perfectly good and allows, even invites, us to share in His good attributes. It would truly be a thankless world if we were not allowed to do so.
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