11/27/2025
This year I want to share some thoughts on Thanksgiving. For many of you “I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I also pray with joy because of your partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now.” (Philippians 1:3) Thank you!
I am also reminded of the words of Psalm 100:4-5 “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever, His faithfulness through all generations.”
We have much to give thanks for and when we give thanks to the Lord, we acknowledge that He is our Savior and Lord; that He is more knowledgeable about our life and needs than we are. Giving thanks places ourselves in His hands and allows Him to work out His will in the concerns that we have, “we enter His gates with thanksgiving.”
To give thanks enables us to help others and be a blessing. It is a pleasure to meet someone who is thankful and cheerful. Thankful, cheerful lives are the best way to present the Gospel to others.
St. Paul reminds us in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 “give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.” Is this even possible or desirable today? If we were to be thankful today, with all the turmoil in the world or in our lives, our attitude and reaction to these concerns would perhaps change. To give thanks for those we disagree with, for the conflicts and troubles in our world enable us to acknowledge that our Lord God is in charge and that we can trust Him.
Oh, that we would “enter His gates with thanksgiving, His courts with praise,” and “give thanks in all circumstances”!
