In the United States, tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day. For Americans, some of the busiest couple of travel days for the entire year fall on the days just before and after the Thanksgiving holiday as many travel home to celebrate it with family. It is a huge holiday on the calendar, but why? Why do you celebrate Thanksgiving? Why as a culture do we stop to give thanks?

For many, I think Thanksgiving has become nothing but a ritual. We know that we should be grateful for things in our lives: our family, friends, jobs, physical resources, or our health. So we set aside a day where we go home to see family, watch a parade on TV, turn on football games, stress over preparing a big meal, and then sit at the table and maybe mention these things you are thankful for. Our thankfulness is often short-lived, as many stand up from the table and leave the meal to run to Black Friday shopping deals. While we are thankful for what we have, we can now get a deal on the things we still want.

If you were to be completely honest with yourself, who do you thank when you stop this week to be thankful? Are you thankful towards family that was there for you? I certainly would be. Are you thankful for a community that cared for your needs and celebrated with your joys? I think you should. Who do you thank for the more circumstantial things in your life, the job that you have, the school you got in to, the place you live, the money you have to buy food with? I know, you are reading this on a church blog, you say you are grateful to God, right? Is that truly the attitude of your heart?

For many, if you are honest, you are actually thankful for yourself. You worked hard, you built a great resume, you interviewed well. You are largely responsible for the job you have. You studied hard in school, did countless extra-curricular activities, and had great SAT or ACT scores. You deserved to get into that school. You searched hard on apartment listings, finding the perfect place for you to live. When at your job you work hard, you are dependable, you have earned that paycheck. If you aren’t thanking yourself then it might just be fate? You just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

James 1:17 reminds us, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” This is the second time in this chapter that James speaks of God giving good gifts. In verse 5 he told us that “God gives generously to all without reproach.” It is God that has created everything around, the stars in the sky, the trees in their fall colors, the mountains, the seas. All that is good comes from God and God gives it generously.

There is great danger in not recognizing and being grateful to God for his good gifts. Romans 1:21 states, “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God _or give thanks to him_, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” What is a sign of unrighteousness? Put another way, what is a sign of sin? Not honoring God rightly and _not thanking him_. An ungrateful heart towards God is an attitude that begins a path into sin. It removes God from the center and places you there in his place. Good things in your life are no longer a good gift from a generous God but are generated from your own doing. Everything is done in separation from God and is actually being done in active rebellion against God. God isn’t necessary for good, you have taken over that center position.

You see, gratefulness to God is worship. It recognizes God rightly as the creator and giver of all things. When you pause and thank God it affirms, “God I know that you are almighty and sovereign over all. I know you are the creator and sustainer of all things. I know that apart from you I would experience nothing good in my life. Everything in my life I am thankful to you for, because it flows from your love and grace to me.” Gratefulness keeps God at the center of your worship.

As you pause to celebrate Thanksgiving this year, will your thanks be given specifically to God? Don’t let Thanksgiving be a holiday that is simply a ritual, instead let it be a day of worship. Be thankful to God as the creator, and the giver of every good and perfect gift. Let your thankfulness center on God.