Christian Thanksgiving
People all over the United States celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday, but what does thanksgiving from a biblical perspective look like? What does it look like to celebrate thanksgiving as Christians?
To find out, let's look at Psalm 100, which carries the title "A Psalm of Thanksgiving" or "A Psalm for Giving Thanks." This is the entire reason this psalm was written, so it should have significant implications for us if we're looking for the biblical perspective of thanksgiving as Christians.
Psalm 100: The Foundation for Christian Thanksgiving
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. (Psalm 100:1-5)
This psalm contains seven imperatives—seven commands about what we should do when it comes to thanksgiving. But the psalmist waits until the very end to give us the basis for those commands. That's where we'll start: understanding why we give thanks in the first place.
Why Do We Give Thanks?
Before we look at what the psalm commands, we need to understand our motivations for giving thanks. Different people have different reasons:
Duty – Some view thanksgiving as simply something God requires of us
Politeness – Others see it as being respectful to God, just as we thank other people
Transactional thinking – Some believe thanking God will lead to more blessings, while failing to thank Him might bring punishment
But while many of us have reasons we think we should give thanks, some of us may be struggling to understand why we should give thanks at all, especially when life is difficult
Maybe you've lost your job, can't pay your bills, or are constantly fighting with family or friends. Perhaps you're battling cancer, chronic pain, anxiety, or depression. When life is hard, it's difficult to feel thankful.
But Psalm 100 doesn't just tell us to give thanks—it gives us the foundation for doing so.
The Three Foundations for Thanksgiving
Verse 5 reveals three attributes of God that form the basis for Christian thanksgiving:
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
1. God's Goodness
To say that God is good means He is not evil—God has nothing bad in Him at all. He has no bad intentions, none of His actions are bad, and He is wholly and fully good in every way possible.
The English Puritan Thomas Manton described God's goodness this way:
He is originally good, good of Himself, which nothing else is; for all creatures are good only by participation and communication from God. He is essentially good; not only good, but goodness itself: it is His essence. He is infinitely good…In God there is an infinite ocean of good. He is eternally and immutably good, for He cannot be less good than He is.
God is good, and He cannot ever be anything less than good. This is why we give thanks—for His goodness and the good things He blesses us with each day.
What About When Life Isn't Good?
This doesn't mean everything that happens to us is good. There is evil in this world, and we do experience suffering. But if God is sovereign and allows us to go through difficult times, He is at work even in those things to bring about good in some way.
We see this in the life of Joseph in the Old Testament. After years of suffering, Joseph told his brothers:
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. (Genesis 50:20)
What happened to Joseph was not good, but God, being infinitely good in His character, used it for good. He does the same for us. We may not always see it—especially when we're going through hard times—but if God is essentially good, we must trust that He is working behind the scenes for our good because He can't act in any other way.
2. God's Enduring Love
The second basis for giving thanks is that God's love endures forever. Love is one of God's essential attributes—God is love (1 John 4:16).
Chip Ingram defines God's love this way:
God's love is his holy disposition toward all that he has created that compels Him to express unconditional affection and selective correction to provide the highest quality of existence, both now and forever, for the object of his love.
And who is the object of His love? You!
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
God's love endures forever. There is never a moment in your life that God does not love you. No matter who you are, where you've been, or what you've done, there's never been a moment when God did not fully and wholly love you. Nor will there ever be.
David knew this truth and declared it in Psalm 23:
Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. (Psalm 23:6)
David highlights both God's goodness and His love, confident that they will pursue him all the days of his life and throughout eternity. The same is true for you.
God's Love in Times of Suffering
This remains true even in times of suffering. Often, it's during difficult seasons that we lean on God even more and experience His unfailing love more deeply. Some people say that after coming out of suffering, they don't feel God's love as intensely as they did while walking through it.
This is one more reason to give thanks in all situations—because God's love is unfailing even when things seem to be failing in our lives or in the world around us.
3. God's Faithfulness
God is faithful. Think about what that means.
You and I have made promises to people and failed to keep them. We didn't come through with what we said we would do. But God has never made a promise and not kept it. Not one time. He's always been faithful, and the psalmist reminds us that He always will be: his faithfulness continues through all generations.
We see this throughout the Old Testament—in the lives of Abraham, Moses, Jacob, Joshua, David, Solomon, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Ruth, and Naomi. Israel gave God every possible reason to turn His back on them, but He never did. Ultimately, He sent His one and only Son to suffer and die on the cross for them and for all of us so that we could experience His goodness and His love forever.
He is faithful, and that is why we give Him thanks today.
There is never a time in our lives when God is not faithful. He is faithful in good times and in bad times. He is faithful when we make good decisions and trust Him with our lives, and He is faithful when we make bad decisions and trust more in our flesh than in Him. He will be faithful all the way to the end of this life and forever as we spend eternity with Him in the new heaven and new earth.
The Seven Commands of Thanksgiving
Now that we understand why we give thanks, let's look at the seven imperatives in Psalm 100—the seven things we're called to do:
1. Shout for Joy to the Lord
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. (v. 1)
When we think about God's goodness, His unfailing love, and His faithfulness throughout all generations, it leads us to shout for joy to the Lord—to rejoice in who He is, what He has done, and what He will continue to do in our lives.
2. Worship the Lord with Gladness
Worship the Lord with gladness (v. 2a)
When we reflect on God's character, it leads us to worship Him with gladness—to praise Him, to give Him glory and honor for who He is and what He's done, to serve Him and to serve others.
3. Come Before Him with Joyful Songs
Come before him with joyful songs. (v. 2b)
Thinking about God's goodness, unfailing love, and faithfulness leads us to sing joyful songs to Him.
4. Know That the Lord Is God
Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. (v. 3)
The word "know" here means both internal knowledge and external acknowledgment. Because He is good and loving, He created us. If we've put our faith in Jesus for salvation, we are His—part of His family—and He takes care of us the way a shepherd takes care of sheep.
Part of giving thanks is acknowledging that the Lord is our Creator and Sustainer, our Shepherd who provides for all that we need.
5-7. Enter with Thanksgiving, Give Thanks, and Praise His Name
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. (v. 4)
In Old Testament times, people went into the Temple—the dwelling place of God—with thanksgiving and praise. Today, we don't have to go to a temple. We are the temple! We become the dwelling place of God when we put our faith in Jesus for salvation and His Spirit comes to live in us.
We can give Him thanks and praise Him at any time and at all times. The more we dwell on His goodness, love, and faithfulness to all generations, the more we'll be compelled to do just that.
Applying Christian Thanksgiving to Your Life
This psalm is a call for you to think about the Lord's goodness, His unfailing love, and His faithfulness to you. Allow the Spirit to lead you to shout for joy, worship Him, sing to Him, and acknowledge Him as your Creator and Shepherd. Give Him thanks and praise His name.
As you do this, it will not only bring Him glory and honor, but you'll receive benefits as well. The more we focus on God's goodness, love, and faithfulness and give thanks to Him for those things, the better our mental health will be.
The apostle Paul tells us in Philippians 4 that as we acknowledge God, present things to Him with thanksgiving, and think about things that are excellent and praiseworthy, we'll experience the peace of God that surpasses all understanding.
Breaking Through Satan's Lies
God's goodness, love, and faithfulness are always there. But Satan blinds us to them by keeping our focus on negative things—our situations and circumstances that aren't great.
When we renew our minds to the truth about God—that He is good, He is loving, and He is faithful—we'll begin to give thanks and experience that goodness, love, and faithfulness that's been there all along.
Conclusion
Christian thanksgiving isn't just about a holiday or even about listing things we're grateful for. It's about recognizing the character of God—His goodness, His enduring love, and His faithfulness—and responding with joy, worship, and praise.
No matter what circumstances you're facing this Thanksgiving season, God's character remains unchanging. He is good. His love endures forever. And His faithfulness continues through all generations—including yours.
