Turning our Thanksgiving into “Thanks- living”

God calls us to a life of “thanks-living”. Thanks-living is a way of life; it is a practice that stretches into the future, and, this is really exciting, thanks-living reaches into eternity.

The LORD your God is bringing you into a good land - a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills. When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day.

Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you.

You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today. - Deuteronomy 8:7-18

Coles Notes version: When all that remains is the turkey carcass and you’ve let your belt out, do not forget to thank God. When you are enjoying plenty, remember that God brought you here from less favourable surroundings. Praise God always for who he is and what he has done, period. On a whole, we’ve become virtually thankless people; people who fail to recognize our dependence on God

Revelation 5:1-14 In this heavenly scene, God holds his will – his eternal plan – in his hand. Heavenly beings cry out for one who would open this scroll. The apostle John weeps as he realizes that there is no one in creation able to open this will.

Suddenly another voice is heard proclaiming – “The Lion, the Lamb has triumphed; He will open the scroll!”. Jesus, crucified yet resurrected, takes the scroll in hand, and opens it to unleash God’s will on earth. Notice the response of heaven to Jesus Christ’s action … thanksgiving! Notice the response on earth to Jesus’ presence … immense thanksgiving! We should embody this same attitude of worship and thanksgiving in our earthly existence.

Be Like a Samaritan Leper … Jesus is travelling to Jerusalem when ten men with leprosy rush to meet him. Jesus tells these men to show themselves to the priests. They go and experience healing on the way. Only one of the ten returns to Jesus to give thanks. This man is a Samaritan, considered incapable of proper worship and despised by Jewish culture. Jesus wonders aloud, where are the others? Jesus is astonished by their thanklessness.

This morning, as many of us sit here as people not only physically healed, but spiritually healed in an eternal manner, I wonder if our thanklessness still astonishes Jesus. Ask yourself; have I given Jesus lip service this morning?

The DNA of a Thanks-liver Thanks-livers are not satisfied with paying lip service. Thanks-livers attempt to make every moment, every action, and every thought an occasion to thank God for his goodness to us. Thanks-livers give their entire existences in worship and thankfulness to God, holding nothing back, even to the point of sacrifice. Thanks-livers can revolutionize a church, a community, a nation, our world!

We can embody God’s will this morning and everyday. How? I Thessalonians 5:18 encourages us to “be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances” telling us that “this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus". We are to be thanks-livers, people who mirror the heavenly celebration, through our lives.

But you don’t know the joy-suckers that I face every day. The apostle Paul had every right to be a joyless, thankless person, but he did not allow his circumstances to overcome God’s will for him in Christ Jesus. He did not allow the circumstances of life to interfere with God’s will for him. He rejoiced and was thankful and encouraged us that “whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17). As a thank-liver, he called us to be thanks-livers.

My concerns often become elongated and my thankfulness truncated. Breathing as thanksgiving … I imagine that as the call for one to unleash God’s will on earth went out unanswered, the collective breath of heaven was held. When Jesus responded, my sense is that the very next breath taken was a very thankful one – a thank you Jesus moment.

Today, I encourage you to live in that moment: live as thanks-livers, people who make every moment, every action, and every thought an occasion to thank God for his goodness to us. Let us be thankful for the life and breath and everything else that God has provided us with. Let us thank him in good times and in difficulty and may this spill over into our community.