Remix Thanksgiving

Is there anyone else who believes Thanksgiving is the best holiday ever? ­You get a little time off of school. You get to have some of the best food this time of year. You get to be around family, for some of you, that’s either a very good thing or others it could be a very bad thing.

Let's be honest, when was the last time that you had stuffing and sweet potatoes in July? They just taste better during this one weekend. Even though there are lots of reasons to love thanksgiving, I love it because there really is a meaning behind Thanksgiving. However, I think it is something We take for granted. We have a holiday for thankfulness in between dressing like ghosts and getting presents. What would happen if we actually used it for that? How would your life change if you had an attitude of thankfulness?

But you might be saying. “What do I have to be thankful for?” Some of us have gone through difficult things. You might think that someone else’s life is better than yours. Maybe you’re thinking that you can be grateful sometime in the future when you are happy. Let me explain something important to you.

It’s not happy people who are grateful. It’s grateful people who are happy.

Gratefulness is the prerequisite to happiness. You don’t become a happy person by complaining or being ungrateful for life. The reality is, life is hard. Gratitude is a choice. It’s something that we can always have, no matter the situation.

Being thankful is not the same as being happy.

Dictionary definitions:
Happiness= good fortune, pleasure, feeling of bliss.
Thankfulness= expressing gratitude, appreciative, content.

Thanksgiving is showing gratitude and being appreciative toward God for everything, not just the good things. It is also being thankful for the things in your life where you would think, “Why on earth would I be thankful for that?”

Something we need to understand is that thankfulness is not based on our happiness. If you were only thankful when you were happy, how thankful would you actually be? How many times do our moods swing?

God tells us that it’s not just our current circumstances that we are supposed to be grateful for. Let me give you an example from the Bible.

Romans 5:3-5
"We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love."

So, what does this mean? Well, this was written by a guy named Paul. Let me tell you, Paul had it rough. He was beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, starved, thrown in jail, insulted, etc. But Paul knew something important. In fact, he said that he learned a secret. This secret was how he could still be joyful and grateful even in the worst of times.

Philippians 4:11-13
"For I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength." 

You see, even though his situations were constantly changing, he still was content and grateful. Why? Because God never changes and he is the reason we can always be grateful.

Paul is saying we must be thankful at all times

It’s easy to be thankful during the good times.

We will always be thankful for the great things God has provided for us. It is actually really easy to be thankful for all the good things God has done for us, right? And we should be thankful.

Ephesians 5:20
"And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Isn’t that so easy? Giving thanks for the great things in your life that God has provided?We are supposed to be thankful for the crap in our lives? Really? If I were only reading Scripture, it would appear so.

James 1:2-4
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

If who we really are comes out in troubled times, it shows us areas in which we know we need to work on regarding our character. It’s the testing of our faith that produces perseverance, meaning you can learn from it, be stronger and you can keep walking through the fire even if it heats up more and more. Perseverance will help you become a stronger believer so you can be “mature and complete” as James says.

Let’s look at Paul again. Remember he was imprisoned, beaten, and spit on by the Romans, and yet this is what he said about his circumstances:

2 Corinthians 12:10
"That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Remember that we are to give thanks for all things? Evidently that includes the bad as well as the good. When we are weak, He is strong because we are forced to not rely on our own strength, but on His. Here is the big point that Paul is pointing to.

Being grateful, even in the hard times, brings us closer to God.

God never said that life will be easy. In fact, he said it will be hard. You can’t control that. You can’t control your circumstances. However, you can choose to be grateful.

When we are truly able to give all of our thanks to God, when we give up our entire offering of thanksgiving, when we give thanks to God for all of the amazing things in our life, when we give true thanks to God for the difficult things in our life, it brings us closer to God.

When we give thanks because our faith is being tested, our trust in God is being tested, and our belief in the fact God is all good like Scripture says is being tested, it brings us closer to God.

That’s Real Thanksgiving

When difficult situations come our way, and in them, we remember what Jesus went through, then we will begin to understand the resurrection in a clearer way.

• We will be able to understand what Jesus went through better.
• We will be able to see Him clearer.
• We will be able to show Jesus to others by how we handle the tough situations because they see how we handle the hard times better.

If that’s the case, then heck yes, I am going to be thankful for the hard times.

When you understand the true meaning of thankfulness, you are thankful for what God has done for you and in your life. Your eyes begin to open.

So, here is the big question: Are you thankful just for the good things? Are you also thankful for the difficult things? Real Thanksgiving is being able to answer, “yes” to both of those questions.It is showing gratitude toward God for everything…the good and the bad.

Learning to be thankful in all situations is a process. You might not be thankful right away, but as time goes on, and as you turn to the Lord in the tough times, He will walk you through and begin to heal the pain and turn it into thanksgiving because it is the both good and bad in which God uses to make you the person you are today.

That is real thanksgiving.