Welcome to Ask the Church, our series where we seek to answer your questions about church worship, practice, or theology in around five minutes.
Today’s question is about thanksgiving: Why is it such an important Christian virtue?
Now, I have a confession to make—I was the one who submitted this question. But it seemed appropriate, given the importance of thanksgiving and the fact that we’re coming right up to the Thanksgiving holiday.
Thanksgiving as a Christian and Secular Virtue
Thanksgiving is interesting because it’s one of those Christian virtues that’s also a secular virtue. The secular world values thanksgiving. It sees it as part of good manners and emotional health.
But all the justification you might hear in the secular world for thanksgiving doesn’t even begin to approach its importance as a Christian virtue.
Put bluntly, thanksgiving is what it means to be a follower of God. It’s the basic posture of the soul that trusts God.
You could say that thanksgiving is faith in action.
It’s impossible, in other words, to be a Christian and not practice thanksgiving—to not be a thankful person. Thanksgiving is one of the primary ways we live out our faith in God.
Heart and Action
It’s good to note that whenever we talk about thanksgiving, we’re talking about two things: a disposition of the heart and external action—being a thankful person and giving thanks.
If you have the heart, the action will naturally follow. A person with a thankful heart will give thanks.
But when we don’t have the heart, the way to gain it is actually to begin with the action. By practicing thanksgiving, we are changed.
It’s heart and action—and if we don’t have the heart, the best thing we can do is start with the action.
Thanksgiving in Scripture
Back to that claim I made: that thanksgiving is the basic posture of a soul that trusts God. We see this throughout Scripture.
In Luke 17, there’s the story of Jesus cleansing ten lepers. As they realize they’ve been healed, one returns to give thanks. Jesus says, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?” Then He looks at the one and says, “Your faith has made you well. It has saved you.”
The Greek word there can mean both “well” and “saved.”
Jesus distinguishes between the ten who were cleansed and the one who was made whole—or made well—and He ties that wholeness directly to the man’s faith. But where was his faith? It was in his posture of thanksgiving to Jesus (Luke 17:11–19).
That same point is made in Romans 1, where the whole world has become darkened in its understanding and has fallen into all sorts of sin. What went wrong? Paul says that even though people “knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him” (Romans 1:21).
Thanksgiving is the breakpoint—the continental divide of the human soul, as my father is fond of saying. It’s what separates light from darkness, faith from unbelief. It’s what changes everything.
You see it again in Psalm 50, where God says to His people, “I do not need your sacrifices... Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving” (Psalm 50:8–14).
The Opposite of Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is the basic posture of the soul that trusts God. And we can understand its importance by looking at its opposite.
When we refuse to give thanks, that refusal usually springs from one of two things.
One is pride—the posture that says, “I earned it. I’m enough on my own. I don’t need to acknowledge anyone else.”
To refuse to give thanks is pride.
The other source is covetousness—the disposition of the soul that says, “What I have is not enough. I deserve more.”
When we realize that refusing to give thanks is rooted in pride or covetousness, we begin to understand how vital thanksgiving really is.
Thanksgiving as Humility and Faith
Thanksgiving, in its positive sense, is the disposition of the soul that says, “What I have is a gift—a gift ultimately from a good God.”
It is, in other words, a movement of humility.
But thanksgiving is also an act of faith—a declaration that says, “What I need, He will provide.”
Thanksgiving recognizes that God has been good and will continue to be good. To give thanks is to be a person of faith and patience, willing to wait on God’s provision.
Thanksgiving as Faith in Action
As we come to the American holiday of Thanksgiving, I would encourage you to recognize that thanksgiving is one of the most primal Christian virtues.
It is faith in action—because it looks to God and says, “You have been good to me, and I trust You to be good to me in every way I need in the future.”
And if you don’t find your heart thankful, the best thing you can do is to act it out—to begin to give thanks.
I hope that this helps.
As always, if you have questions, send them to steven@incarnationrichmond.org.
And now, go in the grace of our God.