Never underestimate the power of Thanksgiving. For starters, it’s a gift God enjoys. And let’s admit it, God is a hard gift-shop. He has everything. Literally. Further, a thankful heart may be the quickest route to a protected heart.
Romans 1 tells us that thanksgiving keeps us from being futile in our thinking. It guards us. Ephesians 5 tells us that an authentically thankful heart and mind does not have room for tempting and destructive thoughts.
Further, thankfulness is a simple obedience that pleases God. It doesn’t require an early-morning rise or a trip to a far-away land. We can practice it while we drive, or fly, or walk, or wait in long checkout lines when we shop.
Thankfulness can, however, become difficult to access. Things like bitterness, fear and resentment can cover it over.
Thankfully (no pun intended), Scripture gives us a few things we can do to be intentional with thankful living and keep thankfulness accessible. Here are a few examples:
- surround ourselves with others who are seeking to grow in faith and love (2 Thessalonians 1:3).
- wrap every prayer in thankfulness (Philippians 4:6)
- make it our first-responder emotion to any good (or even bad) that happens in our lives (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
Maybe this is the Thanksgiving that you and I can adopt a lifestyle of “thanksliving.” Like ripe pumpkins laying on the ground, thankfulness is a low hanging fruit for enjoying more intimacy with God.
Finally, I invite you to take a three-minute personal, video devotional retreat to ruminate on the subject of thanksgiving. You can view it here.