Thanksgiving Day will be celebrated once again this coming Thursday by millions of Americans in this country and around the world. It has become a special day for families all over the nation to come together every year for a delicious home-cooked meal and a period of renewing family ties. It should also be a special time to thank our heavenly Father for all the bountiful blessings He provides in our daily lives, as well as being thankful for the freedoms and blessings fought for by our nation’s founding fathers.
Our tradition of Thanksgiving finds its origin in 1621. A colony of early settlers invited the native Indians to be their guests as they gave thanks for a successful harvest and the ending of a difficult year. George Washington recommended that November 26, 1789, be the first nationally kept day of Thanksgiving. In 1863 Abraham Lincoln settled the date as the last Thursday in November. The following are words of George Washington in the first Thanksgiving Proclamation:
“Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and to humbly implore His protection, aid and favor…. Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the people of these states to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the Beneficent Author that was, that is or that will be; that we may then unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country, and for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.”
Divine inspiration exhorts continual thanksgiving for the Christian because we have far more for which to be thankful than anyone else on earth. Really, we should live a thanksgiving life because it takes a lifetime to say what needs to be said and do what needs to be done in response to the giver of “every good and perfect gift that comes down from above.” (James 1:17) We must always realize that it is “God who gives us richly all things to enjoy.” (I Tim. 6:17) “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.” (Heb. 13:15) As God’s people we are admonished to “pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks…” (I Thess. 5:17–18) “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” (Col. 3:17)
May we always manifest a spirit of thanksgiving, not only on this special day, but every day that we live.
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