“Giving thanks always for all things unto God, and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Ephesians 5:20
What a wonderful day of celebration comes our way this fourth week in November. Thanksgiving Day gives us an opportunity to think more carefully than perhaps any other time of the year about being thankful. Two points that have gotten my attention in recent years about giving thanks; are we thankful for all things and to whom are we giving our thanks? Over 250 years ago one of my favorite Bible commentators, John Gill, gave this valuable insight into Biblical thanksgiving.
“Giving thanks always for all things,.... For things temporal, for our beings, and the preservation of them, and for all the mercies of life; for things spiritual, for Christ, and for all spiritual blessings in him; for electing, redeeming, sanctifying, adopting, pardoning, and justifying grace; for a meetness for heaven, and for eternal life itself; for the Gospel, promises, truths, ordinances, and ministry; and this is to be done always, at all times, in times of adversity, desertion, temptation, affliction, and persecution, as well as in prosperity:
unto God, and the Father; to God who is, and as he is the Father of mercies, and of all creatures; and as he is the Father of Christ, and of all the elect in him:
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; for all the mercies of God's people, both temporal and spiritual, come through him, and for his sake; and thanksgivings for them are only acceptable to God as they are offered up by him; nor is there any other way of bringing them to God, but through him: this duty, as it stands connected with the former, shows that praise and thanksgiving are the principal subject matter of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, to be sung; and that the manner of singing is with thanksgiving; and that the end of it is to give thanks to God.“
May this describe our thankful hearts this Thanksgiving.