Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Oct 1/62

Contributor - G. Van Dyk

Title - Give Thanks In All Circumstances

Topic - Thankfulness

"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 1 Thessalonians 5:18

There is nothing specifically Christian about Thanksgiving. The turkey or the chicken don't make it so. Neither the pumpkin or the mince pie, nor the proclamation of the date by the government can make a Christian feast out of a holiday with a good meal. If Thanksgiving only means that we are quite satisfied with the result of our work during the past season, then we are on shaky ground. If our blessings must be counted by the success or the failure of our crops or our work, then Christianity is nothing more than another form of pagan religion.

It is wrong, even dangerous, to make our material well-being the measure of God's favour towards us. It would follow that God's goodness would be as great, or as small, as our wealth. That's the attitude of the Pharisees, whereas Psalm 37 says, "Better is a little that the righteous has than the abundance of many wicked." Psalm 73 almost turns the tables around and says, "Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches." In Hebrews 12 : 6, reminding us of the teachings in Proverbs, we read, "For the Lord disciplines him whom He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives." That is a lot closer to the New Testament already where Paul, in 2 Corinthians 6, reminds us that, in our world, the children of light do not necessarily prosper because they obey God and believe in Him. Whatever riches they may have are passed on for the well-being of all. "We are treated . . as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything."

Here it is not possible any more to measure success or failure with the yardstick of our earthly lives. Paul knew nothing of the manner in which we celebrate Thanksgiving. He gave thanks in a life that, at least partly already, celebrated Thanksgiving in the kingdom of God and on the new earth.

To make Thanksgiving a Christian feast, we must celebrate it on Golgotha and in the garden of Joseph of Arimathea. The Christian gives thanks on Golgotha and at the tomb; at the cross and the resurrection. In the kingdom of heaven our lives are not measured by the success or failure of our crops, or by our material well-being, but by the righteousness and grace of God. The forces of nature and the economical conditions are grounds that are too shaky that we could use them as a yardstick for our well-being and happiness. Today they favour the one, tomorrow the other; the just and the unjust alike. "The Christian gives thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." Christ is the measure of our success or failure; He is our food and drink in this life and the next. Therefore we give Thee thanks 0 Father, Son and Holy

Spirit, that the same righteousness and grace also live among us and Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

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