How God Creates True Thanksgiving In Our Hearts
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Psalm 51:12
Our culture tells us to be thankful…a lot. It’s on T-shirts, signage, and decor. It’s what Thanksgiving Day is all about, which is wonderful! But as we struggle to be a ray of sunshine in a dark world, we must address the elephant in the room: Is it possible to feel thankful ALL the time, even when we struggle?
Why should we be thankful when friends struggle with addiction? When health and finances are not good? When people in our lives struggle with gender identity or depression?
We have struggled with these questions since the first sin entered the world. But it was in that moment that God actually gave us the “why” for being thankful.
He gave us something we absolutely do not deserve nor could never hope to work hard enough for: his Son, Jesus, who removes the shame of our sin and replaces it with his pure holiness. That is what Jesus did when he died on the cross in our place.
But why would Jesus die for us? Maybe his death was not for everyone. Maybe it is only for the religious people who do not have any skeletons in the closet. Maybe it was for the thankful ones.
God says something very different. He gave his Son because he loved the world that includes everyone. No matter what you have done, where you live, what race you are, his gift of eternal life is for you and your family!
This is because he loves us. And his love that saves us also creates true joy and thankfulness in us.
God wants us to be real at Thanksgiving—no hiding behind cute pumpkins and baked turkeys. He wants us to come to him with the burdens that drain our joy. He loves to hold us as we cry to him. He loves to restore us with his forgiveness and his promise of heaven to come. He loves to reach out to us through other Christians who speak his love to us.
This Thanksgiving, God wants us to find ways to share the real reason for our thankfulness with our friends and family.
Thanksgiving Family Conversation Starters:
Share your burdens and how God has given you relief through knowing he loves you.
Make a list (as a family) of what God has done in your life that makes you thankful.
Think of Bible stories that show you how much Jesus loves you.
Pray together to talk to God about what is on your heart this Thanksgiving Day.