The Mayflower voyage of the English Puritans who fled British persecution is the backdrop for one of our most cherished American holidays. Led by William Bradford, the separatists braved a perilous journey across the treacherous Atlantic to the New World. Their sacrifice was great, but also led to the establishment of the first colony in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Before dropping the anchor off Cape Cod in the year 1620, those aboard produced a covenant document known as the Mayflower Compact, which became the basis for their new government. There is no doubt that the text of this document bears the marks of a Christian character and sense of purpose: “Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first Colony in the northern Parts of Virginia; Do by these Presents, solemnly and mutually, in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation.”

This self-governing people intending to colonize the new world for Christ not only braved the seas, but endured a harsh winter that nearly claimed the lives of everyone left aboard. In the Providence of God, they were saved by the Indian Squanto and other members of his tribe who taught the pilgrims how to live off the land for sustenance. The first Thanksgiving feast celebrated the abundant mercy of God on these bold Englishmen after he had brought them through such hardship.

The inaugural Thanksgiving was also a days-long festival of praise for the bountiful harvest the Lord had richly supplied. This feast has become a model for the time set aside with friends and family to commemorate the faithfulness of our Lord in our lives. Memories formed in this season are precious, but this season is also a good reminder that giving thanks is an everyday command for those who name Christ.

Duty and Delight

Giving thanks is central to the Christian life. The entirety of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, emphasizes the duty of men to show gratitude toward their Creator. This is an obligation to be enjoyed and not merely performed, since gratitude represents an attitude marked by quiet satisfaction in however God has chosen to dispose of our lives.

To express thanksgiving is to admit that the Lord knows how to govern our lives better than we do. He is infinitely wiser than us and knows exactly what his children need. To exchange this discipline for sins like grumbling is to posit ourselves as having higher knowledge than the Almighty and a better understanding of how to rule the universe. Christians must battle against this mindset as the world tells them to live by their own strength and abilities.

The act of thanksgiving also acknowledges that we are not self-sufficient creatures. To be thankful is to be dependent on a power greater than oneself. The act of gratitude is a revolutionary confession that one owes his entire existence to God and is in no position to demand anything from him. Thankfulness happens when a fallen heart encounters undeserved favor in the form of grace. The failure to give thanks is a failure to treat God as holy and results in the glorification of some aspect of creation.

The Bible calls this covetousness, a form of idolatry (Colossians 3:5). Our strong desires for possessions often lead us to elevate wealth and material goods above God. These things are not inherently bad, but they make terrible gods. Eagerly desiring good things is not wrong. Pursuing good things with religious zeal to the point they cause us to lose our contentment is the warning Scripture would have us heed.

Thanksgiving is the antidote to such temptations. Thanksgiving says to pride: “Everything I have comes from the merciful hand of God. He is the Giver of every good gift.” Thanksgiving says to entitlement: “The only thing I deserve is hell, yet God has bestowed mercy beyond measure in Jesus Christ. Therefore I will rejoice in every circumstance and be content with his provision.” When we put away pride and entitlement through thanksgiving, the enjoyment of God and his many blessings increases in our lives and overflows into the lives of others.

Secularism and atheism cannot account for thanksgiving. An atheist can express gratefulness toward his fellow man, but he fails to trace the myriad of blessings he experiences back to the true source. His humanitarian impulses may cause him to praise his friends and family, but this is because he is a reliant creature made in the image of God. The man who suppresses the truth about his Maker (Romans 1:19) may feel moved to give thanks, but there is ultimately no one above him to receive the gratitude.

Thanksgiving only makes sense within a Christian framework. The unbelieving mind has the impulse, but no transcendent object big enough, to bear the weight of ultimate glory. Those who claim that God does not exist are plagued by pride and are in no condition to humble themselves, because this would require them to stop suppressing the truth about their Creator. 

Adorning the Gospel

This is why Thanksgiving is a distinctly Christian celebration. Believers who have tasted the tender mercies of God have had their tongues loosed to extol their Father and offer gratitude for his many blessings. Thanksgiving is a response to grace and a spiritual discipline to be cultivated through practice, involving the disposition of our hearts as well as a physical response.

That is to say, thanksgiving is an aspect of worship. The way we live should cause others to give thanks to God. When we lead lives marked by gratitude toward the God of the blessings and trials alike, we are rejoicing in the hope of the gospel. With every measure of thanks we offer, we express our delight in God, who has revealed himself as the source of all good things. Our enjoyment is displayed in being restored to our purpose: the worship of the true God. The Lord himself wills and works his good pleasure in Christians by conforming us to the image of the Savior.

Thanksgiving is a primary way God receives glory from his people. As the apostle Paul reminds us, we are to be “giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:20). There is a distinctively Christian way to give thanks. Our forefathers knew this when they gathered to celebrate the goodness of God and the basic provision necessary to sustain their needs. If we are content with who God is and his purpose in our lives, we will exhibit the kind of contentment that quells the anxious craving of our age for more.

If Christ has set us an example to give thanks as we break bread together, let us follow in the footsteps of our Lord as we reflect upon his provision this season. “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good;  his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations” (Psalm 100:4-5).