Thanksgiving: A Christian Holiday

Believers are exhorted to give thanks to God for all his blessings.

by Lita Sanders on November 27, 2024

In the US, Americans are preparing to celebrate Thanksgiving, but who are we giving thanks to?

Atheist Richard Dawkins stated:

When I lie on my back and look up at the Milky Way on a clear night and see the vast differences of space and reflect that these are also vast differences of time as well, when I look at the Grand Canyon and see the strata going down, down, down, through periods of time which the human mind can’t comprehend . . . it’s a feeling of sort of an abstract gratitude that I am alive to appreciate these wonders, when I look down a microscope it’s the same feeling, I am grateful to be alive to appreciate these wonders.1

But gratitude implies an object—to whom is Dawkins grateful?

Christians have a clear object of gratitude—we give thanks to God, our Creator and Savior, who has given us every good thing, both materially and spiritually.

The book of Psalms is full of exhortations to praise the Lord. Foremost, we are to thank God because he is good and his steadfast love endures forever (136:1). Psalm 136 details how God’s goodness has been manifested toward us in his creation of the world and his involvement in history.

The book of Psalms is full of exhortations to praise the Lord.

Thankfulness to God demands a response. Praising God and telling others what God has done for us is one biblical response to God’s goodness (Psalm 9:1). As Christians, our lives are to be marked by thanksgiving. First, we are thankful for our salvation (Romans 6:17). Thanksgiving is also associated with mealtimes as a way to remember that it is God who ultimately provides our sustenance (1 Corinthians 10:30; 1 Timothy 4:3–4). But more broadly, we are called to give thanks in every circumstance because every good thing comes from God (Ephesians 5:20).

George Washington gave the first Thanksgiving proclamation in 1789 for a specifically Christian day of thanks to God.2 Abraham Lincoln’s proclamations in 1863 and 1864 were similarly explicitly Christian, calling for thanksgiving and praise to God.3^,4 It has since developed into a secularized day of feasting and family reunion, both of which are good, but the holiday has drifted from its Christian foundation.

This Thanksgiving, let’s take a moment to remember all God has done for us this year and thank him!