A Life of Thanksgiving

“I therefore…urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called…” ~Ephesians 4:1

Yesterday, many celebrated Thanksgiving — that once-a-year holiday on which we remember God’s mercies and give Him particular thanks for them. Some express their gratitude by enjoying a bountiful meal and pausing to offer thanks to God as the great Giver of every good gift. Others remember God’s mercies by singing psalms and hymns with family and friends, or perhaps by writing down the past year’s blessings and reading them aloud around the table. Whatever the practice, giving thanks to God for His kindnesses toward us is a joyful privilege for the Christian. In truth, thanksgiving should not be confined to a single day on the calendar, but should mark the whole disposition and pattern of our lives — it’s an every-day-a-year holiday. Now that Thanksgiving Day is officially behind us, we should ask ourselves: How shall we give thanks today, tomorrow, and the next day? What does gratitude to God look like in the daily rhythm of Christian life?

The great Reformer Martin Luther helps orient our thoughts on this matter. He reminds us that far greater than any material blessing we may receive is the fact that “the Father has given Himself to us….and has overwhelmed us with unspeakable, eternal treasures by His Son and Holy Spirit.” In other words, Luther would direct our attention to the reality that the gospel itself is worthy of our gratitude every single day. And this takes the form of walking in a manner worthy of the calling of the Gospel (Eph. 4:1; Col. 1:10; 1 Thess. 2:12; Phil. 1:27). 

Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is easily divided into two sections. Chapters one through three remind us of the riches of God grace toward us in Christ Jesus: forgiveness of sins, adoption into God’s family, peace with God and one another, the promise of an eternal inheritance waiting for us in glory, the privilege of access to the Father through prayer, and the indwelling Holy Spirit who assures, strengthens, and preserves us.

Paul goes on in chapters four through six to explain that our grateful response to these gifts is a life of holiness, which demonstrates our gratitude to God. In Ephesians, holy gratitude looks like God-honoring relationships with one another in the church, glad-hearted appreciation for the ministry of the Word, mutual esteem in our various communities, and sacrificial love in our homes. It is displayed through gentleness, forbearance, forgiveness, humility, unity, doctrinal fidelity, love, wisdom, song, encouragement, honor, and diligent labor. 

Christian, because God has brought you into fellowship with Himself by His grace and through His Son, you possess countless and daily reasons to give Him thanks — not merely with your words, but by the way you live. Paul reminds us that true thanksgiving is demonstrated by daily living in a manner worthy of the calling that came to us through the sacrificial death and victorious resurrection of Christ. May gratitude shape more than our traditions on Thanksgiving Day, but every day the Lord gives us.

Rev. Kyle Lockhart, Pastor