Back in the 1920s, President Calvin Coolidge issued this Thanksgiving Proclamation: “We have been a most favored people. We ought to be a most grateful people. We have been a most blessed people. We ought to be a most thankful people.” 

It’s hard to imagine having that kind of sentiment today—to hear the leaders of our country say, “We have been a most blessed people and we ought to be most thankful.” The holiday of Thanksgiving is too often like dead Lazarus in the cold tomb. The body is there—all the externals are there—but there is no soul and—in the words of the KJV—it ‘stinketh.’ For many, we do not recognize the blessings God has given us, and worse, we do not recognize the God of these blessings. 

But for us as God’s people, the day of Thanksgiving should be an overflow of a year of giving thanks. It must not be a one-day interruption of a year of grumbling and complaining. 

Ephesians 5:20—“Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 

We are to give thanks always and for everything. The Greek word for ‘give thanks’ means ‘to express appreciation [to God] for benefits or blessings.” Throughout Scripture, to give thanks is often used interchangeably with giving praise to God. 

Psalm 92:1—“It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High.” 

To give thanks to God is also equated with glorifying God’s name (Ps. 86:12) and blessing God (Psalm 145:10). To give thanks then, is to exalt God’s name through praise and appreciation for who he is and all that he has done. 

If the Scriptures are clear about one thing, it is that the people of God are characterized by abundant, joyful, over-flowing thanksgiving. We read in 1 Chronicles 16:41-42 that David set up the Levitical singers at the Tabernacle expressly for the purpose of giving thanks to God. When God promised David a descendent who would reign forever, David’s response was to give thanks to God (2 Samuel 7). When Jonah was rescued by God with the great fish, he gave thanks to God (Jonah 2:9). When God revealed Nebuchadnezzar’s dream to Daniel, he first gave thanks to God. When Anna the prophetess finally saw the Christ, she gave thanks to God (Luke 2:38). Paul himself writes of the importance of giving thanks at least 33 times in his letters! We as the people ought to be a thankful people. Giving thanks is one of the distinguishing marks of knowing God and experiencing His grace. Giving thanks is not a meaningless decoration on the tree; it is a core fruit that God produces within His people. 

So, this Thanksgiving, let us give thanks to our good God. 

Let us give thanks to God for who He is. 1 Chronicles 16:34—“Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!” 

Let us give thanks to God for His kindness and wonderful deeds to us. Psalm 9:1—“I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.” 

Let us give thanks for our salvation in Jesus Christ. Colossians 1:12-14—‘Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” 

Let us give thanks in the midst of your trials. 2 Corinthians 12:9—“Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” 

Let us give thanks for God’s grace in other believers. Romans 1:8—“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaim in all the world.” 

Let us give thanks for His future grace that He will show to us. 1 Corinthians 15:56-57—"The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 

President Coolidge was exactly right. We are a most blessed people. We ought to be a most thankful people.