Thanksgiving is my Favorite Holiday!

Thanksgiving is the best of all holidays!

Have you noticed how Halloween and Christmas seem to crowd out the holiday between them. Its sort of like the little sapling growing in between to towering oaks in the forest.

The stores take down the skulls and witches and immediately replace them with Santas and Christmas trees. Don’t misunderstand. I hold no ill will toward Halloween or Christmas. But what about my favorite holiday – Thanksgiving!

I want to take just a moment and tell you why Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.

I have three basic reasons why I think Thanksgiving is the greatest of all the holidays: historical reasons; scriptural reasons; and personal reasons.

Historical Reasons

Thanksgiving has a rich history. The 1st winter in the New World was brutal(1620-21) on the Pilgrims. The beaver and the Bible were their mainstays. Of the original 102 only 44 survived. After the first harvest Governor Bradford and the pilgrim fathers decided to have a feast of Thanksgiving. Ninety Indians joined in. For three days they enjoyed preaching, featsing, talking and games.

That was 378 years ago and marked the beginning of the holiday we celebrate today.
President George Washington and the newly formed government continued the tradition of the Pilgrims by proclaiming November 26, 1789 as a national day of thanksgiving.
In 1863 of nation raged with the noised of civil war. Brother fought against brother over the issue of state’s rights. As fresh blood soaked the earth of a hundred battle fields, Abraham Lincoln set aside the fourth Thursday in November as a national day of thankfulness to God.

Personal Reasons

I’m not against any holiday, but I am partial to Thanksgiving. Let me give a few negative reasons: it's not compromised w/ paganism; it's not complicated; it's not commercialized.

There are positive ones as well: family oriented; and faith affirming.

When I was boy my folks loaded us kids in the car every thanksgiving to go to Mama and Papa Hartley’s house. All the Hartley clan would be there and I always looked forward to it. With the passing years I don’t go as much, but I wouldn’t take a million dollars for the memories.

Many of you could tell similar stories. And what a wonderful opportunity to start a new tradition with my children. And you have the same opportunity.

Scriptural Reasons

This reason alone would be enough. And of all the reasons, this is the greatest.
1 Chr. 16:8 “Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people.”
Ps. 30:4 “Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.”
Ps. 100:4 “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him and bless his holy name.”
Ep. 5:20 “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The Lord God who is seated upon the throne of all the universe commands His people to be thankful. Thankfulness doesn’t mean that we are laughing and giggling like some twit. You can be thankful with tears of sorrow coursing down your cheeks. You can be thankful in the midst of disappointment. You can be thankful in the face of personal crisis.

When you are thankful you are in the will of God; When you are unthankful you are out of the will of God. 1 Thess 5:18 “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

Don’t tell me you can’t because God has said you can. He never give a command that he doesn’t also give the ability to carry out the command.

The story is told of John Gray, a preacher who never failed to thank God, no matter how bad things got. One Sunday he battled through wind and sleet to preach at a little village. The congregation was small. The people wonder what the preacher would could find to be thankful for. When it came time to pray, the preacher lifted his eyes toward heaven and said, “This is a wretched day, dear Lord, no doubt about it; but we thank Thee, Lord, that ever day isn’t as bad as this one!”

When we are thankful it shows we are filled with the spirit. When we are unthankful it shows that we are not filled with the spirit (see Ep. 5:18-20).

We are never more like Christ than when we are giving thanks to God. And we are never more like the lost world when we are unthankful.

Thankfulness rises from an obedient heart, while unthankfulness rises from a disobedient heart. The word “thank” in the Bible comes from the word eucharistew. The root word is charis. This is the word for grace. We’ve heard people at the supper table asking someone to say “grace.” This is Scriptural. When you say thank you to God, you are saying I don’t deserve what I’m getting. People today think they deserve something and they demand their part.

There was a man at the second church I pastored who was dying of Emphysema. He contracted the disease as a result of chemicals he was exposed to at his work site. He died a slow death by suffocation. I preached his funeral. At Thomas’ request they sang “Why Me Lord.”
Why me Lord what have I ever done
to deserve even one the pleasures I’ve known?
Tell me, Lord, what did I ever do
That was worth lovin’ you or the kindness
you’ve shown?

That last testimony has always stuck with me. I cannot remember for the life of me what text I read or what I said, but I remember the hymn of thankfulness that Thomas requested.

Another aspect of being unthankful is the fact that People think they don’t deserve things. They don’t think they deserve detention hall; they don’t think they deserve a ticket from the police; They don’t think they deserve prison time. They don’t think they deserve judgement; They don’t think they deserve hell. Part of thankfulness is thanking God for the good and the bad. Everything isn’t good, but everything works for good.

Maybe your guilty of having an unthankful heart, God will forgive you if you’ll come to His son Jesus.

Maybe your saved but you’ve lost the attitude of gratitude you ought to have. Tell God that your struggling and ask Him to help you.

I think everyone needs to be encouraged in the area of thankfulness. When you publically say, “I’m struggling and need help” God does something special in our lives.