(1) Being thankful always begins with having someone to thank.  Certainly, it is good and proper for us to express our appreciation to other human beings for their various acts of kindness to us.  But Thanksgiving as a distinct holiday in America was originally a Christian celebration, and it focuses on our being thankful to God as the ultimate Giver of all things.

(2) Thanking God always begins with and requires an awareness of Him.  There is a sense in which atheists can never be thankful to God simply because they do not acknowledge Him.  The tragedy is that all to often even people who claim to be believers often live lives as practical atheists and rarely think about God or offer thanks to Him for all He has done. 

(3) Thanking God includes being thankful for at least three different kinds of blessings:

• Common grace blessings.  These are blessings God gives everyone.  In many ways, God blesses His entire creation, regardless of whether people know Him or not.  Jesus reminds us that God “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45).  Certainly, adequate sunshine and rain were key necessities in an agricultural society.  Even having sufficient food and drink, life and breath are some of His daily blessings. 
• Special, more extraordinary blessings.  God reminds us that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James. 1:17).  God gives us many special blessings: family, friends, living in relative peace, opportunities to learn more about Him.
• His best gift—Himself and our salvation.  This is why our being thankful should always focus on God the Father’s love and providential care for us, Jesus’ sacrificial life and atoning death, and the Spirit’s power, direction, and enablement in our lives as believers. Our ability to know Him is always His best gift to us.

(4) Sometimes being thankful is easy.  I am sure most of us have experienced both regular, ongoing tokens of God’s care and provision as well as His special unusual blessings when He gives us unexpected blessings for our encouragement.  Earlier this week, I was reminded afresh of God’s goodness to me in my older years as He continues to show me new things about Himself.  Not everything about getting older is always easy, but God has blessed me with fresh glimpses of Himself and His greatness in over the years—and yes, even in recent days.

(5) Other times, being thankful to God is hard.  I have experienced this as well.  I think we all know times when life seems particularly difficult and God is allowing things in our lives we don’t want or understand.  Yet, God still calls us to trust Him because He is a great and sovereign God.  The author of Hebrews speaks of “a sacrifice of praise to God” (Hebrews 13:15).  Sacrifice, almost by definition, always costs us something.  God wants us to trust Him even in the midst of trials and difficulties when we don’t understand what He is doing.

(6) We shouldn’t be surprised when God calls us to be thankful to Him even in the midst of trials and difficulties, pain and suffering.  As the result of the Fall described in Genesis 3, we are broken people living in a broken world surrounded by other broken people.  Yet, in spite of all this brokenness, the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ tells us that there is still hope.  God loves His creation, and Christ died for us so that we might have new life.

(7) God calls us to be thankful to Him as an act of obedience.  Paul describes three commands that sum up at least part of God’s will for us as His people in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”  Rejoice, pray, and give thanks.  Did you catch that?  God specifically commands us to be thankful!  This is part of how we show Him the respect and reverence He deserves as God.

(8) Thanking God is an act of faith, where we remind ourselves of three things about Him:

• He always hears us and invites us to come and share our struggles with Him,
• He controls every area of life through His sovereign and purposeful providence,
• He is working all things together for good—in keeping with His eternal and perfect plan.

(9) Being thankful requires a choice.  It doesn’t simply happen.  Thankfulness involves a decision on our part in which we acknowledge afresh that we live in a God-centered universe where God is actively at work in our lives and in the lives of everyone else around us.

(10) Being thankful both glorifies God and blesses others.  If the ultimate purpose of our lives is to glorify God, thanking Him is a part of fulfilling this purpose.  At the same time, God often uses our being thankful as a means of blessing and encouraging others around us.

I don’t know what is happening in your life this Thanksgiving season, but I invite you to join me in seeking to grow in our ability to praise God for all His greatness and glory and to thank Him for all that He is doing in each of our lives, regardless of whether we understand it or not.