With the arrival of colder temperatures this week, fall is certainly in full swing, and winter is on its heels. As fall concludes, we find ourselves moving into the holiday season. Thanksgiving and Christmas are almost here. We can practically smell the pumpkin pie, hear the noise of family enjoying time together and the never-ending wave of Black Friday ads.

The challenge every year is that Thanksgiving is being swallowed up in the rush to find the hottest deals on junk we probably do not need. Friday’s push-and-grab events replace the quiet gratitude of Thursday’s Thanksgiving dinner, all the while completely destroying the purpose of two holidays. Thanksgiving is to be a time of gratitude to our God who has abundantly blessed us, and Christmas is to be a time of worship to God for sending His Son into this world to save us from our destruction. 

As much as we could lay the destruction of Thanksgiving on corporate greed, we must look at ourselves first. We are failing as a nation. We have replaced gratitude for what we have with a demand for entitlement. We do not seek to be filled with gratitude but with frustration because we feel robbed of something that has not been given to us. We have become spoiled children. An overabundance of God’s blessings surrounds us, but we whine because we do not have the latest gadgets.

This attitude has entered the church. Christianity has replaced the Gospel of denying oneself and replaced with the “God wants me to be healthy, wealthy, and happy” theology. Churches seek to entertain instead of worship.

Entitlement has entered into faith, and it is not good. We now expect God to make our lives easy, and when things go bad, somehow, God or faith has failed. 

This entitlement theology is so far from what Christ taught us. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 proclaims, “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” Three truths are revealed in this verse.

The first truth is that I am to give thanks. In this simple sentence, God reminds us how gratitude is to be central to the life of His children.

The second truth is that I am to give thanks for everything. This is where the difficulty begins. I am to give thanks for all that I experience, things I possess, the things I do not, the health I enjoy, or the sickness I endure – everything. It is so easy to be thankful when everything is good, but what about the difficult moments of life?

The third truth of this verse is the truth that ties it all together. The verse states, “for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” The third truth is based on God’s sovereignty. Nothing happens in my life outside of the will of God. He is in control in all moments of my life, the good and the bad. Nothing will come into my life without His singular providence and care. I can be thankful in the difficult moments of life because I know that He is in control and is watching over me. It is through these times that we can grow and learn. God is often seen and heard clearly in the difficult days of our lives.

So, I learned to be thankful in all moments of life.

When we apply these three truths, gratitude becomes a vital part of my life, not just a brief moment on a Thursday in November. We must move back from an entitlement mentality to a humble, thankful mentality.

“Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving…”  Psalm 95:2.

May gratitude and thankfulness to God engulf your life this holiday season. Thank you, God, for everything in my life, and thank you for giving us the grace to endure and enjoy the things of this life.